Smarter, Not Harder
by amber-chick
Summary: Set mid season 2. Tony goes on a holiday, leaving Kate and McGee alone with Gibbs. Curiosity leads them to Tony's personnel file, and they learn some interesting things about Tony - like how he got hired. Includes team bonding, no pairings. Complete.
1. The Paperwork

_My first multi-chapter NCIS fic. I don't even know where the idea for this came from, but I got stuck trying to write more for my Vance fic, and this popped into my head. So, this was born. Please let me know what you thought of it, and whether its worth continuing! :) It won't be long, maybe 4 chapters max._

_Disclaimer: NCIS does not belong to me (Dad said he wouldn't give it to me for Christmas)._

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McGee walked into NCIS Headquarters with a happy air, feeling happier then he usually did about coming into work. Not that he didn't love his job; he did, being a federal agent is what he'd dreamed of since he was a little kid.

But today was the first day of Tony's week-long holiday. That meant an entire week of peace and quiet and actually being able to work without having to stave off the constant movie references and so-called 'advice'. Nobody would be distracting him by throwing things while he tried to finish his paperwork (how the hell did Tony even ever get his paperwork done? He never worked, but Gibbs never mentioned a word about Tony not handing it in). And Gibbs would probably be in a better mood with no Tony to have to keep reigning in.

To be perfectly honest, sometimes McGee wondered just why Tony was on Gibbs' team. It wasn't that Tony wasn't a good investigator – he would be a damn good cop, he had been, actually, if he recalled a conversation a while back right, but how in the world did he become Gibbs' senior field agent?

"Hey, McGee," Abby said cheerfully, causing McGee to look up in surprise as he hadn't even noticed her. Abby looked at him smiling, her pigtails bouncing as she walked up to him with Ducky. They had probably been discussing some science thing, as they often did when the team didn't actually have an active case.

"Morning Abs, Ducky," McGee answered, stepping up to walk with them as they turned the corner to get to the elevator.

"Good morning Timothy, you seem unusually happy today," Ducky noted, sharing a glance with Abby, as she stepped up to press the buttons for the elevator – up for McGee, down for her and Ducky.

"Do I?" McGee asked, unwilling to admit that he was so happy that Tony wasn't going to be there that week.

"Yeah, you do. I didn't think you'd be so happy, isn't today Tony's first day of leave?" Abby asked, knowing very well that it was. She had helped him pack last night and threatened him with severe bodily harm if he didn't call or text her at least twice a day.

"You didn't think that I would be happy that I'm going to be spending a whole week without being pranked?" McGee asked, stepping into the elevator backwards as the doors opened with a ding. "I'll see you guys later."

Abby waited until the elevator doors closed before turning to Ducky and stating, "He really is happy."

"Ah, you forget, my dear, that young Timothy has not been on our team all that long. This will be his very first experience without Anthony there. Caitlins too, for that matter," Ducky replied.

"And they're excited about that?" Abby asked, shaking her head with a sigh. "Well, they aren't very good investigators, are they? Don't they realize how much Tony protects them from Gibbs' temper?"

"I doubt they realize young Anthonys role. However, I have no doubt that this week will prove to be educational, for both of them," Ducky answered, just as their elevator, heading down, opened.

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McGee walked into the squadroom and set his gear behind his desk and put his gun in his drawer. He brow furrowed as he tried to work out why he didn't feel thrilled at the missing 'Probie!' that usually greeted his entrance. He couldn't stand that stupid nickname.

"Morning, McGee," Kate greeted him from over at her desk, spinning her chair around to face him.

"Uh, morning Kate," McGee answered, sitting down in his chair and leaning back. "How was your weekend?"

"It was good." Kate paused for a moment, and then smiled widely. At McGee's inquiring glance, she continued, "Sorry, it's just so good to be able to answer that question without any questions about sex or any innuendos about what I meant by 'good'."

"Tell me about it," McGee agreed, laughing. "Where's Gibbs?"

"I don't know, his jacket and gear were here when I got in," Kate answered, looking over at her boss' desk. "Do you think we have a case?"

"No, but my desk does appear to be missing a lot of paperwork from the last case we had," Gibbs said as he strode in, coffee in his hand, and slapping McGee on the way to his desk without breaking his stride.

"Good morning, Boss," McGee said, wincing. That seemed harder then most of the other head slaps he'd gotten. "I left my report on your desk and I e-mailed you a copy before I left last night."

"So did I," Kate added, leaning back in her chair.

Gibbs mentally rolled his eyes. DiNozzo really did need a vacation, but being without his second in command was going to be taxing. _"Kate and McGee are learning." _Maybe they were learning, but they were still green. He just hoped his patience would last for the next five days. "There's more paperwork to a case then just your reports, Kate."

"There never has been before," Kate answered, looking over at McGee to confirm that he had the same information she did.

Gibbs stood up and walked over to Tony's desk and grabbed the stack of papers that were between his computer monitor and the television. Turning back around, he informed them, "That would be because DiNozzo always does it, but he's not exactly here right now, so that leaves it up to you two." Actually, the senior field agent had wanted to finish those as well, before he left, so their team was left with a clean slate, but Abby had come up and insisted that he go home so he could rest before he left, and so she could help him pack. Gibbs had agreed, deciding that it was about time Kate and McGee learned just what bureaucracy was.

He dumped the files on Kates desk and glared at McGee until he got the hint and rolled his chair over to her desk. Gibbs shook his head and tehn went to his desk, grabbing his coffee before bounding up the steps to MTAC.

Just before he went our of hearing range, he could hear Kate say incredulously, "Tony does extra paperwork?"

McGee looked at her blankly, seemingly in shock at the thought of Tony actually doing _more _work then them. "Well, there can't be that much of it, since Tony hardly ever does work, right?"

Gibbs smirked to himself. Those two really had no idea. As Tony always said – you had to work smarter, not harder.

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_Hopefully you enjoyed that... please, press that really nice alluring green button..._

_Next chapter will be up sometime next week._


	2. The Case

_Wow. I have never had such a great response to a new fic. Thank you – all of you! I actually wanted to update this earlier to show my sincere gratitude but my laptops fan decided it needed replacing, and then the electricity went out… __so instead, I give you a longer chapter :)_

_**And a note: **__This fic will __**not be **__case-centric, that is just a way to get where I want to go._

_Anyway, heres a new cha__pter – this one is more in Kate & Gibbs POV…_

_--------------1100 hours, the squadroom----------_

"Alright, this has to be some sort of prank," Kate said with gritted teeth, glaring at the pile of paperwork that still sat at her desk. She and McGee had been working for over two hours and it seemed like they hadn't even made a dent in the paperwork. "Tony had to have set this up somehow, before he left."

"And got Gibbs to play along?" McGee asked helplessly, adding another form to the 'done' pile, and then grabbing an empty one from the pile with a heavy sigh. "Well, at least now we know why Tony always hands in his report late."

"Except that Tony does muck around," Kate insisted, leaning back in her chair and rotating her wrist around to ease the pain that had started to build up from her constant writing. "I mean, half the time when we're writing our reports he's playing Tetris or something."

It honestly drove her insane. Her and Tony were quite good friends; but his frat boy personality drove her up the wall. On the way home, at the end of a long day, then it was good, but Tony never knew when to stop. She felt like he didn't take the job seriously enough. He acted like he was still in college, constantly cracking jokes, or pushing Gibbs or something.

She knew that after McGee had first joined them permanently, then he had wondered a little about how Tony became an agent. She knew the feeling – she had too. During that first case she had had with NCIS, Tony had seemed far more preoccupied with sitting (and getting a photo) in the Presidents chair then he had finding out who had killed Commander Trapp.

She groaned as she leaned back over her desk, grabbing another piece of paper. "I swear, DiNozzo, if this does turn out to be a prank, I will shoot you," she muttered under her breath.

---------------_1110 hours, MTAC-------------_

"I noticed that Agents Todd and McGee seem rather frustrated at the moment," NCIS Director Morrow said as he slipped in to sit beside Gibbs in the back row, effectively drawing the former marines attention away from the undercover infiltration op that was taking place on the screen.

Gibbs let out a chuckle and said, "Just learning the wonders of bureaucracy."

"Yes, Agent DiNozzo has left us for the week. A well earned vacation, I don't believe he has taken a real one in all the time he has worked here, except for that compulsory one he took after the Rota mission with Agent Blackadder," Morrow said, shifting slightly so that he was actually facing Gibbs more, rather than just talking to thin air.

"He loved Rota," Gibbs said in response, taking a sip of coffee. In reality it hadn't been much of a holiday. Three days of enforced leave, plus a weekend off duty led to five days 'on vacation'. Gibbs had been planning on working on his boat and wallowing (not that he would ever admit, even to himself, that that was what he did) about what went down in Spain and how stupid it was to let Blackadder on that operation.

However, Abby and Tony had different plans. They had invited themselves over to his house, and had stayed there for the entire five days, taking over his guest bedroom, and somehow managing to connect a TV and a DVD player in his living room so that they could drag him into watching one of their movies that they 'just knew he'd love' (he had to admit, he had enjoyed Air Force One). And then they'd sit on the steps while he worked on the boat, sometimes helping him sand but more often than not just joking around.

He had known what they were doing, but he was surprised to realize that it worked, when, on the fourth day, he realized that he hadn't thought about Blackadder once as he tried to stop Tony and Abby from destroying his house. It was in that moment, as he was cooking dinner for them all, that he realized that it felt like family.

He shook himself back to the present as he realized that Morrow was saying something else.

"When I talked to Agent DiNozzo he said that he thought Agents Todd and McGee were still a little green but should be ready to tackle cases without him there," Morrow continued, looking at Gibbs carefully to gauge his reactions to his words.

Gibbs smirked, answering the Director, "That all he said?"

The Director also chuckled, "Well, he might have also mentioned that he believed the bigger problem would be learning to deal with your temper."

Gibbs nodded, still smirking. Tony had said the exact same thing to him when he had come down to the basement after Abby had finally decided he was ready.

"Do you agree?" Morrow asked, looking more serious.

Gibbs nodded slowly, giving the decision he'd been mulling over for half the night. "It's about time they learn – there are going to be times when Tony or me aren't going to be there."

"Good, I was hoping I wouldn't have to take my top team off the rotation for the week," Morrow said.

------------_1500 hours, squadroom----------------_

"We are done!" Kate said happily as she dropped her pen on her desk and leaned back, stretching her arms.

"Six hours," McGee groaned, rotating his neck to get rid of the crick that had developed.

Kate glanced at the clock on her computer and asked McGee, "You want to go grab some takeout and bring it back here?"

Before McGee could answer, Gibbs strode in and said, "Grab your gear."

"Now?" Kate said disbelievingly, even as she grabbed her gun and loaded it.

"Problem, Agent Todd?" Gibbs asked, raising his eyebrow, as he walked back towards the elevator, coffee in hand and gun in holster. "Di-McGee, gas the truck."

"Got it, Boss," McGee said, fumbling for the keys.

----------_-----------_

"Flipping Hell," McGee swore, stumbling around to the back of the truck, gripping onto it for support for his shaky legs.

"Gibbs driving the truck out here is one heck of an experience, isn't it," Kate said, breathing slightly heavier then normal.

"No kidding," McGee said, opening one side of the trucks back door as Kate opened the other.

"Come on, let's do this," Gibbs said, finishing the last of his coffee and putting it away to throw out later.

"What do you want us to do?" McGee asked.

"Kate, you shoot, McGee, bag and tag," Gibbs ordered, jumping into the truck to grab the sketchpad and laser.

"What about sketching and measurements?" Kate asked, reaching for the camera.

Gibbs just stared at her and held up the two items, holding her gaze until she muttered 'right' and then left.

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"Found him," McGee said triumphantly, tapping a few keys to put their dead marines service record on the plasma.

"About time," Gibbs said, annoyed. "Well?"

"Uh, Marine Staff Sergeant Jeffrey Arnlow," McGee said, reading from the screen as Kate stood up to stand in front of the plasma.

"Trained at Parris Island, recently finished his second tour in Iraq, currently stationed at the base in Oceania, lives with his wife and they have a seven year old daughter," McGee finished, giving the pertinent details.

"Ugh, that must be horrible for his wife and daughter," Kate said, not noticing Gibbs' shoulders tense slightly at the discovery that the dead marine had a young daughter.

"The laptop?" Gibbs asked shortly, wanting to get out of there and get more coffee. He was going to need it. There was no way he was going to let the bastard that murdered Arnlow to get away.

"The laptop… the one we found at the crime scene," McGee said, cottoning on.

"A laptop isn't exactly something that most people have when they just go out," Kate pointed out. "It's bound to have something important, anything."

"Yeah, got that part," Gibbs snapped at her. He continued to glare at her as he said in a tight voice, "McGee. The laptop."

"Well… uh, it's with Abby at the moment, but…" McGee hesitated, but continued on when Gibbs' glare moved from Kate to him. "Well, she, uh, can't get a whole lot from it, said it keeps shutting down on her and she can't get any of the information from the hard drive. I was thinking that it might be some sort of a sophisticated defense system."

"Well then get down there and find it out," Gibbs snapped, glaring at them both as he swiveled around on his heel and strode away.

"Uh, find out what, Boss," McGee called to him cautiously.

"Anything that will help us find out who murdered that marine!" Gibbs shouted at them, making them both wince.

-------------

"Hey, guys," Abby said, turning around beaming, "You can-"

Before she got the chance to finish her statement, Kate interrupted her, saying, "Sorry, Abby, but Gibbs is really mad and he wants answers, pronto."

"Where's the laptop?" McGee asked her.

"It's right here, but like I was telling-"

"Yeah, there's some sort of defense mechanism that causes it to keep shutting down. Can we connect the hard drive in some other way?" Kate asked, interrupting again. She wanted to hurry this up so they could give Gibbs some good news. Gibbs was well known for being a 'bastard', but he really wasn't that bad, at least not to his agents. Seeing him so mad at them was kind of unsettling.

"Actually-"

"If we do that, it may not do anything to the defense mechanism and it's possible that we'll lost some part of the information," McGee explained to Kate.

Abby stared at them, hands on her hips as the two field agents deliberated over what to do.

"Stop interrupting Abby," Gibbs said as he strode in, coffee in one hand, Caf-Pow in the other.

"Thank you Gibbs," Abby said. "Now as Tony and I were just discussing-"

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"I thought you said you weren't going to interrupt me," Abby complained.

"How were you talking to Tony?" Kate asked, looking confused.

"It's this little invention called a phone," Abby answered sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, guys," Tony's voice came from the speakerphone next to Abby's lab.

"Hey," Kate and McGee said.

"Anyway, if I may actually finish a sentence," Abby said, glaring at them all. Gibbs offered her the Caf-Pow as an apology, getting a smile back. "Okay, so Tony called me while I was examining it and I told him what my problem is and he remembered something."

"A previous case?" Gibbs asked, directing his question to the phone.

"Which case, because-" Kate started saying, already taking out her PDA to record it. She stopped in the middle of her sentence when she looked up and saw Gibbs glaring at her.

"DiNozzo," the former marine barked, not softening his glare in the least.

"It's not a case. Abby and I just did some good, old fashioned police work – logic leaping. Do you remember when Viv kept on having problems with her laptop?"

"Kept on saying that it had never happened at the FBI," Gibbs answered in the affirmative.

Kate and McGee glanced at each other, wondering where the heck Tony was going with this. He couldn't exactly do much police work over the phone on a state of the art laptop.

"Right, well, I went down to the basement with her and they told us what had been wrong with it and all that crap," Tony continued, his voice sounding a little crackly over the phone. "Her fan had overheated or something, and it was doing the exact same thing as what Abby said this one was doing. It's not a defense mechanism. It's just broken."

"Our marine was probably going to get it fixed," Abby told them, shrugging.

"Sophisticated defense mechanism," Gibbs said incredulously, turning to McGee and pinning him with a death glare, making the younger agent gulp visibly.

He opened his mouth to yell some more, but before he could get the words out, Tony said, "Hey, I gotta run. Gibbs, don't be too mean to Katie and the Probie… imagine the paperwork."

Gibbs hid his amusement as Abby started her goodbyes, telling him to be careful, tell his friends 'hi' from her, and to make sure he bought her something cool.

"Alright, Abs, I promise," Tony said, laughter in his voice. Gibbs could feel his temper slightly soften, it had been a long time since he had heard Tony that happy. "Bye, guys."

"Be careful, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, gruffly, just before Tony hung up.

"You two, fix the damn thing and take a decent look at the evidence before you start coming up with excuses," Gibbs snapped at them. "I'm going to take to Arnlow's CO, and I want that done by the time I get back."

They weren't given the chance to answer before Gibbs strode out.

"He can't expect us to fix it in such a short amount of time," McGee said weakly.

"It's seriously the fan?" Kate asked. She had no idea that Tony knew anything about computers, and she couldn't believe that he had fixed the problem over the phone like that. A part of the conversation just struck her, she turned to ask Abby, "Hey, Abby, who's Viv?"

"Viv? She was one of the previous agents," Abby said distractedly, typing a few keys as one of her machines beeped.

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_Well, there you have chapter two. I'm not sure if I like it, but I go where the muse takes me. Next chapter will see them get to the personnel file. _

_Again, thank you for all the wonderful reviews! I really appreciate them… please let me know what you thought of this one, the alluring green button is right there…_


	3. The Idea

_Again, thank you so much to those that reviewed! I hope you enjoy this installment. Also, Personnel File will be having a sequel, coming soon to a computer screen near you… :) Enjoy!_

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"_Viv? She was one of the previous agents."_

_-------0100 hours, squadroom-------_

The bullpen was eerily silent as Kate and McGee steadily made their way through their Chinese takeout. Both were trying to take advantage of their first opportunity for downtime in several days. They had been trying to find whoever murdered Arnlow during that entire time, but the only real progress that had been done was by Gibbs' temper.

Now, they had finally caught a break but unfortunately the only way to get conclusive proof was through forensics, and Abby couldn't get them any answers for at least another couple of hours. So, Kate and McGee had left to find some food and gone up to the bullpen to eat, leaving Abby with strict orders to call them the second she got something.

"You know, I think Gibbs is more angry and obsessed with this case then he was with Ari," McGee said, interrupting the introspective silence.

"Tell me about it. And I was always complaining about that!" Kate complained. "But I wonder why this case hit him so hard. I mean, Ari is understandable since he did kidnap us and shoot Gerald in the shoulder, but he doesn't even know Arnlow."

"I have no idea. This entire case has been strange," McGee said with a sigh. "And painful," he added, his hand going up to rub his head unconsciously, in memory of the many headslaps he had received over the last few days.

"You mean like the fact that Tony managed to work out the laptop problem over the phone while you had no clue?" Kate asked, sniggering.

"Hey," McGee grumbled, his pride still sore after that particular incident. "You had no clue about it either."

"Yeah, but I didn't go to MIT," Kate rebutted, grinning as she brought another piece of meat up with her chopsticks.

"Yeah, but you've still had training with computers, all agents that go through FLETC have to. Tony went through the police academy, they don't teach that kind of stuff there," McGee pointed out. "I'm still surprised that Tony did know it."

"Surprised and annoyed," Kate said knowingly. "Hey, relax," she laughed when McGee glared at her. It was getting harder to tease the young NCIS agent; he was slowly starting to get a thick skin. "Besides, I agree with you. I was really surprised when I asked Abby about that 'Viv'."

"It's probably just one of Tony's many, many, girlfriends," McGee said in a suffering voice. "Actually, no, it can't be, because Gibbs and Abby knew her, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I was wondering," Kate agreed, playing with her food with the chopsticks. "When I asked Abby she said that Viv had been a previous agent."

"A previous agent?" McGee responded with surprise. "I hadn't really realized that they had a different agent before you. How much longer then you has Tony been working here, anyway?"

"He made his second year anniversary in my first month," Kate answered. "I mean, well, it's obvious they had another agent before me, but I never really thought about it."

"Two years longer?" McGee muttered. He had to admit, that impressed him. Close to four years with Gibbs; he had to admit the idea of being with the gruff ex-marine for that long was a scary thought. Then he remembered something, voicing it aloud, "Wait a second, I thought you guys met during a case? Who was helping them then?"

Kate frowned, thinking back, "Actually… no one was," she said slowly after a moment of silence. "With everything going on, it just never really registered that it was just the two of them with Ducky."

"You're kidding, right? I mean, they must have had some kind of TAD with them," McGee said in surprise. "I mean, there are two of us and the Director still thought about taking us off the roster."

"Yeah, that is strange," Kate said, frowning. "But no, I'm positive that they were the only ones working it…"

"But if there were only two of them, then why weren't they taken off the rotation or a TAD get hired?" McGee asked, frowning.

"I have no idea," Kate said, her brow furrowed together in thought as she unconsciously played with her chopsticks.

"The Director must have approved them working a case by themselves," McGee mused after several minutes of silence.

"I don't see him doing that. I mean, assigning such a high profile case to only a two-man team?" Kate responded doubtfully.

"Well, obviously he did, because it happened," McGee rebutted, a little testily for having his theory shot down.

"But, I mean, its _Tony_," Kate said, trying to justify her reasons. "You know, oldest living frat boy… lives to tease us, insanely short attention span."

"Well, then, maybe the Director knows something we don't," McGee pointed out reasonably, having nodded in agreement to her previous reasons. "Gibbs obviously does. I mean, they've worked together for four years and Gibbs isn't exactly the type to tolerate that kind of thing unless it's for a reason."

"Yeah," Kate mused, moving a little on her revolving chair as sucked her chopstick in thought, her food lying abandoned on the desk.

McGee continued to eat, eyeing her warily, wondering what she was planning. He knew from previous experience that Kate was not nearly the 'goody-goody' that she liked to think she was. That, of course, never boded well for him, since Kate wouldn't dare do anything to Gibbs and Tony was able to get back at her with an ease that McGee sometimes envied.

_I swear, I can't wait until I won't be the Probie anymore, _McGee thought, leaning back in his chair, _being able to make the new agent do stuff, not having to do all the dirty work…_

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Kates sudden exclamation.

"You know, I bet whatever it is that the Director and Gibbs know that we don't, has to be in Tony's personnel file," Kate said to him, double checking that nobody was in earshot.

"Maybe, but what does that have… oh no," McGee said, first shrugging, but then stiffening in horror and what Kate _can't _have just suggested.

"Come on, McGee, aren't you curious," Kate said, trying to convince him, even as she tried to ignore her own doubts. (Gibbs would _kill _them, and she doubted Tony would too happy either.)

"No, no, and no," McGee said firmly, glad that he had finally learned to stand up to his fellow agents. Well, Kate, anyway. Maybe Tony, on a good day, but definitely not Gibbs. He was taken away from those thoughts by Kates earnest stare. "Kate, it's against every policy to hack into a fellow agents personnel file! Especially a senior one!"

"It's not like he would ever find out," Kate said, still in a convincing tone.

"Yeah, but if he did, can you imagine what he would do?" McGee exclaimed, shuddering at the very thought. Tony could get very creative when he wanted to. "And what about Gibbs, for that matter? He always finds this stuff out!"

"He won't find this out," Kate said firmly, trying not to think about what would happen if he did. She struggled internally for a moment, and McGee watched her carefully, hoping that she had changed her mind.

Kate looked around and then dropped her voice to a whisper, leaning in to make sure they couldn't be overheard, "Can you get into the mainframe when you're wireless?"

"You mean like on a laptop?" McGee asked, also lowering his voice in spite of himself. "It might be a little trickier. Not that I am going to hack into my co-workers personnel file," he corrected himself hastily.

Seeing Kate look at him like that, almost like his sister made him falter. Despite himself, he found himself wondering what was in Tony's file, almost like a forbidden object that, when informed about it but told eh couldn't have it, made him want it all the more. Maybe it would have something about how he had gotten hired… why Gibbs trusted Tony so much…

"Alright, fine," McGee hissed at her, looking around in paranoia. "But if we get caught…"

"We won't," Kate said confidently. "Come on, grab the computer and lets go."

"We can't leave the building," McGee told her, even as he collected everything he would need. "Gibbs would get suspicious, not to mention kill us."

"We're not going to leave the building," Kate replied, grabbing her cell phone just inc case Abby got the results earlier then she had expected. "We're going to borrow one of Gibbs' ideas."

"The elevator," McGee asked, after a moment of confusion. "Kate, I know it's the middle of the night, but I'm pretty sure that would still be suspicious."

"Not the elevator," Kate replied with a smile, even as she gestured for him to hurry up. They walked as fast as they could without raising any suspicion and, reaching the end of the corridor, Kate turned around to say, "The stairwell."

--------------------

Gibbs watched his two agents walk as fast as they could to the stairwell, in what they believed was an inconspicuous way. Gibbs snorted in his opinion of that, that was the best way to draw attention to themselves.

Although, he had to give them points for thinking of using the stairwell. Very few agents ever used it during the day, and he doubted anyone other then security guards would use it at night.

Although, the reason they needed the stairwell…

Gibbs sighed as he debated with himself whether or not to stop this before it got any further. He knew that Tony kept his frat-boy mask up for a reason, both personally and professionally. What Kate and McGee never realized was that people talked to Tony like they would never talk to one of them, because Tony projected such a non-threatening image. It was one of the things that made him so good undercover.

He also was, despite his many tales, a private person. He had just learned to talk a lot about very little.

Gibbs knew that he really should put a stop to this but something was holding him back.

The ex-marine knew that Kate, in particular, didn't think much of Tony's capabilities. McGee, though on a lesser level, also sometimes doubted Tony's place as his senior field agents. Neither were able to see beyond the mask, not looking beyond what Tony _wanted _them to see.

Gibbs also wanted to start letting Tony take on a little more leadership, as he had earlier, before Kate had joined. The ex-cop did a very good job at leading cases, and Gibbs wanted him to start doing so again; he hadn't been lead in a case since that one case with Viv, right before the Rota mission.

But it would never work if Kate and McGee didn't respect him as the agent he was, and continued to treat him as a college kid that got lucky.

Gibbs made his decision swiftly, stifling down that little voice that told him he was betraying Tony's trust. There wasn't anything in that file that Tony would be truly against them knowing. Some things that he had only told Gibbs after a lot of bourbon…

But Kate and McGee wouldn't find those things out. Hopefully, the things that they would learn would have an effect on how they viewed their senior field agent.

------------------

In the dim stairwell, two agents were sitting on a flat area between two flights of stairs. McGee was typing continuously while Kate kept on trying to hurry him up, both with gestures and words.

Then, with one final click, the screen loaded with a picture and two lines of text:

Anthony D. DiNozzo,  
NCIS Senior Field Agent.

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_Did that ending seem a little melodramatic? Well, anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the third chapter of Smarter, Not Harder. There will most likely be two more chapters, maybe three. _

_On another note, those that read __**Personnel File, **__and begged/asked me to write a __**sequel**__ will be pleased to know that I have written one and it will be posted either tomorrow or the day after. _

_For now, please let me know what you thought of this chapter…_


	4. The File Pt 1

_Thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews and support for this story! I hope you guys had a good Christmas, and I hope you had a brilliant New Years Eve! Love you all, leave a review on the way out! :)_

_This one has some footnotes, found at the bottom…_

_----------------_

"_All that time, and you never once looked in the mans file?" _

_--------------------_

McGee's hand was hovering over the button that would take them into the actual file hesitantly. Tony's picture was smiling at him from the computer screen, looking younger then the junior agent had ever seen him. It had most likely been taken when he had first joined the agency.

"Come on, McGee," Kate cut in impatiently, looking behind them in paranoia. "We want to finish this _before _Gibbs notices we're missing…"

"Are you sure…" McGee started to ask hesitantly, the picture of Tony reminding him of the fact that Tony would probably be pretty mad if he found out about them looking through his personnel file.

"Just do it," Kate cut in, feeling impatient to see what was in the file. Now that she had the idea she wanted to see it through and find out more about the man that she had been working for over a year. It constantly annoyed her that Tony and Gibbs both managed to completely throw off her profile training. They always did the exact opposite of what she would expect them to do.

There were several times when she had been blindsided by both men, and it unsettled her. She hoped that by doing this she would learn a little more about her teammate. She wanted to know what motivated him, because the thing that she thought did, would hardly lead him to become a senior federal agent. If she had known he was law enforcement but not what area, then she would have said that he was a cop of some kind.

And McGee did have a point – Gibbs wouldn't have put up with Tony for the last four years without a reason. There had to be something else. Something that, unfortunately, her training couldn't see.

She didn't even consider, like McGee did, that Tony might get angry with her for going through his confidential records. In part it was because Tony had never hazed her like he did with McGee. But there was also the fact that she had never seen Tony angry. He got annoyed every now and then, but he always brushed things off with a joke.

And besides, it's not like he particularly cared about keeping his life private.

"Alright, alright," McGee said, taking a deep breath and pressing a button. His heart thudded loudly, and he looked around, almost expecting Tony to come barging in, demanding to know what they were doing.

"Well, what does it say?" Kate asked, elbowing McGee to move over so that she could see better.

"Employee Information," McGee read from the title of the first section of the file. He continued to read the contents aloud.

_Name: Anthony D. DiNozzo  
Rank: Senior Field Agent  
Stationed: Washington Navy Yard  
Commencement of Service: 26 October, 2001  
Time in Service: 3 years, 7 months_

"That's not as long as I've been an agent," Kate commented.

"Yeah, but Tony was a cop before that," McGee pointed out, guessing (correctly) that Kate felt slighted that she had been an agent for longer yet Tony was senior to her.

"Yeah, but I – never mind," Kate said, shaking her head. She resented the fact that McGee managed to read her so well. Was she really that obvious?

"The next bit is the basics – looks and stuff," McGee said, skimming it before proceeding to read it aloud.

_Date of Birth: 26 June, 1971 (1)  
Height: 6'1 (2)  
Weight: 185 pounds (2)  
Ethnici-_

"Yeah, alright, I get the point," Kate interrupted. "We know this stuff, skip ahead to the things we don't know."

"Alright, alright," McGee muttered, skimming through the page. "Hang on a second," he said, frowning as he reread one part.

"What, is something the matter?" Kate asked, looking over his shoulder.

"No, but… Tony gets paid more then me!" McGee complained, pouting slightly. (3)

Kate looks at him strangely, but then looked at the computer screen herself, and finding that she had the same reaction, "Hey, he gets paid way more then me, too," Kate exclaimed. "That is so unfair. I mean, I do more work then he does."

"Actually, considering the paperwork that we had to do…" McGee pointed out.

"Still," Kate said, sitting down on the stairs properly, rather then just kneeling as before. _That does explain how he affords all those designer clothes, _Kate thought, also slightly pouting to McGees hidden amusement.

"Okay, current status…" McGee murmured. "Job Description?" he asked Kate, turning to her with eyes widened in question.

"It's the same as ours, isn't it?" Kate asked, leaning over to read. "Yeah, investigate crimes, process crime scenes, surveillance, protect the integrity of national security, hang on a sec, that's a new one," Kate cut herself off, narrowing her eyes at the unfamiliar phrase in the otherwise identical description that she had for her job.

"Which part is that?" McGee asked, frowning slightly as he looked through the paragraph. His description was different from this one so he couldn't tell which one Kate had spotted.

"There," Kate said, reaching over to point to it with her finger.

McGee bit his lip, repressing the urge to tell her off as her nail touched the sensitive laptop screen. Instead, he looked to the part of the page that she had indicated.

_To protect, to the best of their abilities, the team leader, and the junior agents. _

"It's part of his job to protect Gibbs?" McGee said incredulously, blinking in surprise. He looked over at Kate, who was staring at the computer screen, looking rather like one of the characters from the anime shows he used to love to watch (and, though he'd never admit within a twenty mile radius of Tony and Kate, still enjoyed.)

"I never thought that he actually _has _to protect Gibbs," Kate said slowly, turning to McGee, seeing her surprise mirrored in his face. "I always thought it was one of his hero-worship things."

"Hero-worship?" McGee asked her, slightly doubtfully. He supposed that some of Tonys behaviour could be classed that way, but he didn't really see it like that.

"Do you have another way to explain the fact that he constantly does what he asks," Kate asked, snorting. "I mean, he's like… a… puppy dog," she said to him, struggling to find the right word to describe the dynamic she saw of Tony and Gibbs.

"I don't think so," McGee said slowly, "I mean, the time that Gibbs was really obsessed with Ari, Tony told him off for it. I don't know what he said, but I think it involved Moby Dick."

"What? When was this?" Kate asked incredulously, staring at him. _Tony would never say something like that to Gibbs. _Nobody _would say something like that to Gibbs. _

"Uh, right after he got back from lunch," McGee told her, sensitive to the fact that she hadn't heard because she had been kidnapped by Ari at the time.

"He told Gibbs off?" Kate confirmed, still in shock.

"Uh, yes," McGee said, looking gratified at the fact that he had finally managed to surprise Kate with something. He was tempted to say something along the lines of what she and Tony would tease him with in these situations, but decided to forgo it. He could remember his own surprise as he watched them up on the balcony, as Gibbs faltered after Tony had his last word and ran downstairs. And then later, looking at Tony's slightly embarrassed expression as Gibbs mentioned 'Moby Dick', just claiming that it was from an earlier conversation.

"He seriously did that?" Kate asked again, seemingly not able to get over it. McGee stayed quiet, guessing that this one was meant to be a rhetorical question.

After several minutes of silence, McGee hesitantly interrupted the contemplative quiet, worried that for every minute they were down here, Gibbs would come down and find them missing and call them to return. And now that he'd actually gotten into Tony's file, and already learned several new secrets (no wonder he always had expensive clothes. It really was unfair that Tony got paid that much more then him!) he was now eager to learn what other secrets lay in the file.

"The next part is his background check and clearance stuff," McGee told Kate, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Hm? That's simple. His parents are loaded, he went to Ohio State and got a Bachelor Degree in Phys. Ed, and he's floated around the police department for several years before joining NCIS," Kate said, sounding slightly distracted, but bringing her thoughts back to the present, and shoving her previous ones to the back of her mind for future analysis.

McGee, who had scrolled down further into the next section while Kate had been talking and responded with a sorrowful overtone to his voice, "His pa_rent _is loaded, Kate. His mother is dead."

"What?" Kate asked, wondering just how many things Tony didn't tell them. When she had first initiated this idea, the only thing she had been expecting to find was why Gibbs – and apparently Morrow – trusted Tony so much. Tony was always telling them about his personal life and often offered more then was wanted, she never would have imagined that he wasn't telling them something important.

"In 1981," McGee informed her quietly, feeling more sympathetic towards the senior field agent then he would have ever imagined being capable of feeling towards the man who teased him mercilessly day after day. The thought of Tony, who McGee had always imagined as a happy, rambunctious and mischievous child, attending his mothers funeral at the tender age of ten was enough to bring moisture to his eyes, making him blink rapidly before Kate noticed.

"He was ten," Kate whispered, bringing her hand up to her mouth. She couldn't imagine growing up without her mother, who was often the voice of reason when she was enraged with her brothers for going through her things _again, _or threatening her boyfriend _again. _Even now, after being self-sufficient for many years, she still couldn't imagine not having her mother, always there to listen after a hard day, or to rant to when a guy didn't turn out to be who she expected. She looked at the computer, noting the date and determined to make sure to be nice to Tony that day, no matter what happened.

McGee let his eyes rove around the screen, but he sputtered when he read several lines down, "He was disowned?"

Kate frowned, moving the computer slightly so that she could see better, filing the date of Mrs DiNozzo's death away for future reference. "Wait, they were serious?" Kate blurted out, as the words looking back at her confirmed what McGee had said.

"You knew about this?" McGee asked her, sounding slightly offended that he hadn't known.

"Well, I mean, I thought they were joking," Kate said defensively, "I mean, the way Gibbs said it… it sounded like he was joking!"

"Why would anybody joke about being disowned," McGee retorted. He had grown up in a very loving family, and for him, the idea of being disowned was honestly horrifying.

"It's Tony," Kate countered, "He jokes about anything and everything!"

"He wouldn't joke about something like that," McGee rebutted, eyes flashing slightly. "I mean, you've seen what he's like with attention, no way he would ever joke about getting disowned."

------------------------

Gibbs was looking at the door to the stairwell, sipping his coffee periodically. He had positioned himself here, leaning against one of the partitions that separated the room into different areas for squads, right after he had made his decision to let Kate and McGee to go through with hacking into their senior agents personnel file.

However, he still felt unsure of the decision, and so he took up residence right outside the stairwell door so that he could put a stop to it easily if he felt the need to. He needed to do something to get rid of the feeling that he was betraying Tony's trust.

It was true that he had rationalized the decision, but sometimes, rationality was overrated.

At least this way he could somehow feel like he was protecting Tony in some way. Even though it wasn't something that Tony really _needed _protecting from, Gibbs had always had intense protective insticts for his senior agent.

Gibbs rolled his eyes, and couldn't help but shake his head at his two junior agents. Any respect he had given them in their smart choice to use the stairwell for this little illegal endeavour went out the window as their words, while muffled, could still be heard out in the squadroom. If anybody else was here, then they would immediately know that something was going on.

Didn't they know that when doing something not-quite-legal, that you were meant to be _quiet_?!

------------------

The loud, pulse pounding music of the nightclub made it difficult for nearly everybody to think straight, particularly when you added in the top-of-the-line alcohol sold, but Anthony DiNozzo was going against the trend tonight.

He had sat out several songs ago, despite the protests from the friends he'd gone on this road trip with. They were, after all, due back in only two days, and they wanted to make the most of the time they had together.

However, for some reason, Tony just didn't seem to be in the mood. His gut was churning, and at first he had laughed it off, joking to himself that he had spent too much time around Gibbs. But it just got stronger, and he kept on getting a strange feeling that something was going on, but he had no idea what…

_------------------_

_Okay… so what did you think? I think this is the one I'm most nervous about. Particularly those last two scenes... did they make sense? Please let me know what you thought. And Happy New Year! :) _

_---------__**Footnotes**__------------- _

_(1) I'm not sure of Tonys actual date of birth, so I estimated.  
(2) I am Australian and we use the metric system for measuring height and weight, so forgive me if these are off.  
(3) I actually looked this up, and senior law enforcement personnel do get paid heaps more then junior. _


	5. The File Pt 2

_::Lets out deep breathe:: This was a difficult chapter to write, and I had a major block on it. _

_And considering the part where everybody read the last two scenes of the previous chapter different then how I intended it, you gave me a plot bunny that made me change how it was going to continue and end. Therefore, I am no longer going to guess how long it will be, it will end when it will… but for now, enjoy this chapter!_

_----------------------_

_I really need to get better at reading men. _

_-----------------------_

"The next part is his education history," McGee informed, slightly stonily after their argument about disownment. He couldn't believe that Kate seriously thought that Tony would joke about something like that.

"I told you, he went to Ohio State and got a Bachelors Degree in Phys. Ed," Kate informed him, still sounding slightly defensive from their previous argument. After all, Tony did joke about everything, and she honestly believed that he had been kidding about being disowned – especially since he obviously had money, what with the designer clothes and very expensive Corvette.

But then, she had been judging by what she usually earned, not what he apparently earned. _Makes me wonder what Gibbs' salary is like, _she thought fleetingly, before focusing back on the computer screen.

"Yeah, I know, he told me that, but he probably had other training courses," McGee huffed, rolling his eyes as he waited impatiently for the screen to load.

"Wait a second, he told you?" Kate asked, raising an eyebrow. She had found out in passing from Abby – Tony had never really mentioned it to her. She figured it wasn't something he wanted people to know.

"Yeah," McGee answered slowly, drawing the word out, looking at her strangely, but having his attention diverted to the now loaded screen.

"Alright, first school was some expensive prep one," McGee said, his eyes skimming along the text, fingers poised above the keyboard. "And then he moved to… _Rhode Island Military Academy?!" _

"Very funny, McGee," Kate stated, rolling her eyes. "But now really isn't the time to start channeling Tony."

"I'm not," McGee said weakly, pointing to the computer, where he was still staring in shock.

"Right, because Tony, the preppy, prank-loving jock definitely – " she started to say, moving forward to humour the newer agent, thinking that it would be easier to get it over with quickly, so that they could finish this before Gibbs realized they were missing. However, when she read the black text, stopped in surprise, her mouth still open as she stared at the computer, much like McGee at that moment. Tony… in military school?

"Can you imagine Tony in military school?" Kate asked in disbelief. "_Saluting _people? Tony hates salutes!"

"I guess that might be why," McGee said, in slight bewilderment. Somehow, the image of Tony in a uniform, saluting someone… It did not mesh at all with the image that McGee had of Tony when he was younger.

"Maybe, but, I mean, _military school?" _Kate burst out, glaring at the computer as though it were lying to her.

"Well, Tony never does talk about his earlier education," McGee pointed out, slightly surprised at this thought, as he had never really noticed before, "Only about college."

"Yeah, you're right," Kate said, trailing off quietly, "I guess the fact that he always went on about college distracted me from the fact that he never talked about his other schools."

Kate felt like kicking herself, had it been physically possible. She was meant to be a trained federal investigator, but she had never even noticed that Tony never mentioned his first few schools, or really anything about his past. She had always imagined Tony as a kid that constantly got called to the principal's office for playing pranks on teachers. And then when he got home she had put together the tidbits of his parents that Tony let slip and imagined his father giving him a scolding and his mother doting upon him and undoing everything his father had said.

Thinking of Tony only having one parent, and going to a military school that was most likely very strict, did not mesh with her idea of Tony at all.

Could her profiling training really have led her so astray? She had gotten used to the fact that she couldn't 'read' Gibbs, but she really thought that she had Tony pegged.

McGee was silent, reading through the file but at the same time detached from it, thinking about the senior field agent. It was hard to believe that these kind of things had happened to the happy-go-lucky agent. From the way he acted, McGee had always assumed that he'd been the classic rich-kid in school. That image was definitely blown out of the water now.

"Tony's done a computer course?" McGee blurted out, astounded. The Tony he knew practically detested computers.

"What? Where?" Kate asked, shaking her head to clear it of her thoughts, ignoring McGee who looked at her strangely because of the action.

"Um, it's written right here," McGee told her, gesturing to the words with his right hand, his left still on the touchpad.

"I can see that, McGee," Kate scoffed, rolling her eyes, "I mean, where did he take the course?"

"You don't sound too surprised that he took one," McGee said suspiciously, as he leaned forward slightly to get the name of the college.

"I figured he had to have learnt from somewhere when he got his PDA and actually knew how to use it," Kate told him, shrugging.

That would probably be why he hadn't noticed, McGee thought, by the time he was a full time member Tony had already been using his PDA and everything. _Although, _he thought wryly, _if this is what Tony is like _after _the course, I have to wonder what he was like before it. _

"Uh, it was at… Saint Mary's College, in Fredericksburg," McGee informed her, turning his head so he was actually talking to her. (1)

At this, Kate inexplicably laughed. "Well, at least that's more like Tony," she said cheerfully, glad that he wasn't completely different from the man she had grown to know over the last year and a half.

"Uh, did I miss something?" McGee asked, confused.

"Saint Mary's College is an all girls' school, McGee," Kate told him, pleased that there was finally something lighter in the file, rather then all the bigger revelations that had preceded it. It was a good thing that Gibbs was tied up in MTAC, since this was taking a lot longer then she had expected it to take.

McGee smiled, shaking his head. Like Kate, he was pleased that something in that file coincided with the agent they thought they knew. He wondered briefly whether Tony had actually met any women through the class.

"Anyway, graduated from the Police Academy, we knew that," Kate said, reading over McGee's shoulder.

"Graduated with honours," McGee corrected, raising his eyebrows slightly. That actually didn't surprise him as much, especially putting them next to the previous revelations that the file had held.

"Seriously?" Kate asked, looking closer. "Huh, you're right. Well, I suppose Tony is pretty good at that kind of stuff…"

"Still bitter about the fact that he keeps on beating you at the shooting range?" McGee said to her, smirking, as he got revenge for her previous jibes about him not realizing the victims computer had been broken.

"He does _not _keep beating me on the shooting range," Kate said to him firmly, flipping her hair back. The shooting range was one of their constant competitions, and the only one that Gibbs actually encourage (in the fact that he didn't discourage it…) because it made them to be better shots. She could grudgingly admit (though never to his face) that Tony was a very good shot.

"Yeah, he does," McGee rebutted, knowing that it was a source of annoyance for both agents, even though Tony was better out on the range, particularly for Gibbs' standards, which were quite different from NCIS'.

Kate glared at him, and motioned towards the laptop, saying in a slightly hissing voice, "Hurry up before Gibbs notices we're missing."

That made McGee return to his attention to the laptop. After discovering all these things that Tony obviously hadn't wanted them to know about, McGee had the feeling that Gibbs would be _really _mad if he found out that they were doing this.

"Uh, specific skills," McGee said, reading the next subtitle.

"Chasing anything over the age of eighteen and wearing a skirt?" Kate asked, jokingly.

McGee smiled and read out the list, "Fluent in Italian and Spanish. Good at undercover work. Crime Scene Sketch expert, Ballistics expert, Trajectory Expert… Piano and Salsa Dancing??" McGee had known about those first few skills, and so his voice had remained neutral, however, near the end it had morphed into confusion.

"Okay, going beyond the fact that I had no idea Tony could do that… why the heck is it in his personnel file?" Kate asked, looking at him with confusion.

"I have no idea," McGee said, looking at the bizarre addition of Tony's non-work related extracurricular activities. "I also had no idea Tony knew how to salsa dance," he added as an after thought.

"The salsa dancing isn't _that _much of a surprise," Kate said, thinking about Tony and Agent Cassidy clubbing together in Gitmo. "But Tony playing the piano? That was unexpected." She wondered how good he was at it, and whether he'd ever show her.

Briefly, Kate wondered who wrote the personnel files and why in the world they felt it was necessary to add in these tidbits, but then shrugged it off as McGee went through the rest of the page.

"Previous law enforcement experience," McGee informed her.

"Peoria, Philly, and Baltimore, all an average of two years," Kate said instantly, remembering from a long ago conversation during a case.

"With commendations from Peoria and Philly," McGee noted, whistling softly. "Wait a second, he only stayed there for two years?"

"Give or take a couple of months," Kate responded, wondering where McGee was going with this.

"You don't think he'd leave NCIS, do you?" McGee asked, surprised at how the notion upset him, particularly after these last few days of seeing what it was like without him being there.

"If he was going to leave, he'd have done it by now," Kate told him, only just realizing why Gibbs, Abby and Ducky had made such a big deal about Tony's two year anniversary – they had been afraid he was going to leave.

McGee's eyes flicked back to the computer, not quite convinced.

"Hey, what does the rest of the page say?" Kate prodded, bringing him back on topic, turning around to glance back up at the door with a nervous look.

"Uh, just some more results from his background check," McGee said, skimming through it.

"So…" Kate prodded, shaking her head slightly.

"Uh, he's had a few minor traffic violations," McGee said, his hand one the mouse as he scrolled down the page.

"That's not surprising, considering the way he drives," Kate snorted, shaking her head with a slight smile. Even though Tony definitely wasn't a perfect driver, she'd still take him over Gibbs any day.

"A… friend of his was stabbed when he was in college," McGee said quietly, glancing at Kate. Looking at the dates all on the same page, McGee had a feeling that this was why Tony decided on a career in law enforcement. It was something that McGee had always been curious about – why had Tony decided to become a cop instead of playing pro-ball like he had obviously wanted, or even using his PE degree.

Kate had made the same connection, and she was mad at herself that she had never realized that Tony had really had a good reason to become a cop. She had always assumed it was the typical jock reasons… fast cars, guns, girls…

"Engagement?" McGee blurted out, eyes wide as he stared at the final part of the page.

"What do you mean, engagement?" Kate asked, pulled out of her thoughts by McGees statement.

"He was engaged. As in, he had a fiancé. He was going to get _married. _Tony. When he was in college," McGee said, babbling in his shock. Tony loved girls. He loved them so much that he had to go out and experience all of them. For as long as McGee had known him, Tony had never mentioned any serious girlfriends. The junior agent had a sneaking suspicion that more had happened between Tony and Agent Cassidy then he had let on, but even that was nothing like the thought that Tony had once actually committed to spending the rest of his life with a women.

Kate moved the laptop slightly so that she could read it properly, and felt her jaw slacken as the file confirmed McGee's words. "Tony… engaged? I-Hate-Marriage Tony? What happened?"

"Would that even be in here," McGee asked doubtfully, coming partially out of his shock, though his eyes remained wider then usual.

"Considering that they had Tony's ability to play the piano and salsa dance in there, they would probably have added that," Kate said, rolling her eyes. _That actually makes me wonder what they wrote in my personnel file, _Kate thought in slight horror. Damn, she hoped that if this one was anything to go by, then Tony would never read her file… she'd never live it down.

"True," McGee stated, looking back at the screen. "I wonder who even wrote this file, for that matter," he added, as an afterthought. _And whether they wrote mine…_

"Who cares, what happened with the engagement," Kate said impatiently, thinking that it would be just their luck to get interrupted at that exact moment.

"Uh, they… wow," McGee said, having read it quickly in his head before saying it out loud, but was surprised enough that he forgot to repeat it for Kate.

"What?" Kate asked him, leaning forward.

"She broke up with him," McGee told her quietly.

"I agree that its surprising," Kate said slowly, "But why are you _that _surprised?"

"She broke up with him after he broke his leg during a game and found out he would never be able to play pro," McGee said, staring at the computer screen. He had always wondered why Tony had given up sports, since he obviously loved it… and now he knew.

"Oh," Kate said softly, sitting back down. After several moments of mulling over that thought as McGee slowly tapped the keys, she realized that this was probably _why _Tony hated commitment. He had been burned badly once, and he wanted to avoid ever having to go through that again. "Poor Tony," she said, softly that McGee could barely even hear her. She realized that this was one of the very few times that she ever truly felt sympathetic towards Tony, and also realized with a surprised start, that the majority of those other reasons also involved love and women.

The signs had all been there, but it was only now that she realized that he wasn't nearly as much a ladies man as he wanted them to think he was.

McGee stared at the computer screen, willing Kate not to look at him for a moment as he knew his face would give away far too many of his emotions. He had never thought that Tony would ever had to go through having his heart broken, but in a matter of days, his two biggest dreams had been shattered.

He hit the enter key to bring up the next section, wondering dully whether anything else could really surprise him.

"Hey, next part is his employment process," McGee said, perking up. This was the thing he was most curious to know. He knew there had to be something that had happened between Gibbs and Tony and he bet it had to do with how Tony had been hired. There was a reason why Tony stayed at NCIS longer then any of his previous jobs and was Gibbs' second longest lasting agent.

"Well, what does it say?" Kate asked impatiently. She had the feeling that this may just make her curse herself for always underestimating Tony. She didn't like the feeling, she hated feeling wrong.

--------------

Tony sighed as he headed towards the back exit, after telling his friends that he would be back in a moment, and no, he wasn't taking the opportunity to leave. Before he could get there, however, he was interrupted.

"C'mon, man, join in," Matt, an old football teammate and frat brother from college said drunkenly.

"I said that I'd help one of the waitresses," Tony said simply, indicating the bar with his head, walking backwards slowly so that he could face the blonde man while they talked.

"Really," Matt leered, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Not like that," Tony said, rolling his eyes. For one thing, he really wasn't in the mood tonight. He kept on feeling like something was going on – in Gibbs speak, his gut was going crazy. He was tempted to call somebody at NCIS to find out whether anything was going on.

"Seriously, man, you're way too responsible," Matt complained, raising his voice slightly to be heard as Tony kept getting further away. "Steady job… you're refusing to drink, not flirting with the hot waitress…"

"I got drunk the other night," Tony pointed out. "Besides you're hardly one to talk, considering you've got a wife waiting for you at home."

Matt grinned and shrugged, admitting defeat as Tony smiled and turned around, shaking his head as he made his way back to the bar faster now that he wasn't in conversation.

-------------------

Gibbs flipped open his cell, and then closed it, gratified by the loud crack that permeated the silent squadroom. He had been doing that for the last twenty minutes, the phone out in front of him as he sat leaning against the partition with his knees drawn up.

He flipped it open again, thankful that no one else was here to see him give into a nervous habit of having to do something – anything, with his hands. He had already called Ducky twice, annoying the ME when he only said a few words before hanging up. He had wanted advice, really, on how to handle the situation, but he'd had no idea how to put his request into words and so had given up.

He had a feeling in his gut that something was going on, but he didn't know whether it had to do with his two junior agents or whether it had to do with their murdered marine, Arnlow.

------------

_Well, what did you all think? I'm thinking about whether or not to write a small flashback sequence for how Tony got hired by NCIS, but I'm not quite sure…_

_But whatever, for now, please, let me know what you thought of this chapter! I did write half of it with a headache, but hopefully it still makes sense! Now, press that pretty big button and review. :)_

_-----------------_

_(1) According to the CBS website, Tony really did do a computer course at this all girls school…_


	6. The Job

_In the end, I decided to make this one just dedicated to how Tony got hired by NCIS, and cut out some of the later scenes which will instead appear in the next chapter. Of course, that does have the added bonus of being a cliffhanger… :p Enjoy, and, as always please review!_

_As much as I wished I owned NCIS, I definitely don't. _

----------------------

"_How did you get into NCIS?" "I smiled."_

_----------------------_

"It's a case file," McGee noted with surprise.

"I thought you said this was his employment process," Kate said, frowning slightly as she leaned over to look at the screen.

"It is," McGee insisted, tapping the keys several times. "It seems that the process is a case… Looks like he got hired kind of like you did," he continued, glancing at her.

"A joint case with the Baltimore PD," Kate mused, "Well, we have had a few, I suppose, but Gibbs hates working with local LEOs, why hire one he had worked with? I mean, an agent from a different agency is a different story, we're all part of the so-called 'federal community'."

"It must have been a heck of a case," McGee said, eagerly anticipating what it might have been about. Obviously Tony had to have made a heck of an impression for Gibbs to even agree to a joint op, let alone to have hired him and promoted him to senior after less then a year at the agency.

"Well, what does it say?" Kate said impatiently, glancing at her watch nervously. They had been gone for too long; Gibbs would be back any minute.

"Alright, so a Naval Lieutenant became the… sixth victim of a serial killer," McGee read out. "The case had originally been Baltimore PD's, until the Navy connection got us involved…"

--------------------

_The crime scene was loud, and the sun shining on it was bright and hot. Neither of these things were improving Gibbs' mood. _

_However, the thing making it worse was the young punk of a detective that had the nerve to argue with him over a body that was clearly his jurisdiction. It was a dead _Naval _Lieutenant and he worked for the _Naval _Criminal Investigative Service, he didn't think it was that much of a logic leap._

_The kid didn't even look unnerved after facing his death glare for the last ten minutes; he even had the gall to continue to argue! _

"_My. Jurisdiction," Gibbs barked out finally, turning around to hear Ducky's preliminary thoughts on the body. Said Medical Examiner was watching the scene with poorly hidden amusement. _

_The kid (who had previously introduced himself as Detective DiNozzo) _still _didn't give up, either not noticing or ignoring the tell-tale signs of explosive anger apparent in the ex-marines body posture._

"_It's my case," DiNozzo rebutted, his voice just as hard as Gibbs', though his stare could use some work. _

"_Naval Lieutenant. My jurisdiction," Gibbs said, mentally rolling his eyes. _

"_I've been working this case for two months," DiNozzo retorted, anger clear in his voice. Gibbs had to give him points, he hadn't lost control of his temper yet._

"_Doesn't change the fact that this is My. Jurisdiction," the NCIS agent emphasized. "Your superior approved it."_

_The detectives face set in a scowl, it was obvious he and his supervisor didn't see eye to eye – on many things, from the looks of it. _

"_Besides, you haven't solved it yet," Gibbs added, knowing he was pouring salt on a bleeding wound. He watched in grim satisfaction as DiNozzo's eyes lowered at him, and then the detective turned around suddenly, leaving without a word. _

"_That was rather cruel, Jethro," Ducky chided, as the senior agent was finally able to turn to get the preliminary observations. _

"_That's why they say that the second 'B' stands for bastard," Gibbs quipped, squatting down to take a look at the body._

_------------------------_

"Well, that's one heck of a first meeting," Kate said, slowly, staring at the computer screen.

"They didn't really make very good first impressions, did they," McGee agreed, feeling slightly shocked. "Tony was like practically every uncooperative cop we've worked with rolled into one."

"Why the hell would Gibbs hire him after that," Kate said, gesturing towards the computer screen.

"Has Tony ever said anything about how he got hired," McGee asked her curiously, knowing that Tony had never said a word to him about it.

"Just that 'he smiled'," Kate scoffed. "Obviously that isn't exactly true."

"Maybe it's later on," McGee suggested, though he sounded doubtful. He had to admit that he felt slightly in awe of Tony, standing up to Gibbs like that. But he couldn't see how a relationship that started with Gibbs feeling nothing but annoyance toward Tony ended in the leader trusting him beyond all the others, and treating the younger senior agent with almost paternal like affection at times.

"Well, then, what else does it say," Kate said impatiently, her curiosity insatiable now she had had a carrot dangled in front of her. Her foot was jiggling from nervousness; she had a strong feeling that Gibbs was going to find them soon.

"Ah, right," McGee said, shaking himself from his thoughts. "So, Ducky's initial observation said that COD was blunt force trauma to – "

"Forget about that, just read the parts that have Tony in them," Kate cut in.

"Right," McGee answered, scanning the file for the next mention for the young homicide detective. "So, Gibbs found out that Tony and his partner… er, Pete Duter, had found a lead. Some low-level drug dealer apparently saw something but wouldn't give it up… Tony and his partner were going to bust him and then get the information, but the PD's lieutenant told Gibbs about it…"

-------------------

_Once again, Gibbs found himself glowering at the cocky young homicide detective._

"_Give. Me. The. Address," the NCIS agent growled out, pinning DiNozzo with a glare. It was a pity he was short on agents; he could have had one of them do this. Instead, he was the one stuck dealing with a territorial cop._

"_It's a Baltimore PD drug bust," DiNozzo told him with a tight smile, oblivious to the fact that he was dealing with a dangerously low caffeinated Gibbs. _

_Gibbs just growled, making DiNozzo raise his eyebrows slightly in surprise. _

"_I mean, why would a fed want to deal with a low level crook like Shreve," DiNozzo continued with a laugh, gesturing with his hands. "I mean, if you want to tag along…"_

_Gibbs leant down closely to the detective, "You damn well know why I want that address. This is _my _case, and you are not tagging along. Now give me the address or I will personally make sure that you get fired before the end of the day."_

_DiNozzo didn't even flinch at the harsh tone or the intense stare, making Gibbs have to trample on a grudging bit of respect that blossomed. "What address?" the young detective asked, eyes wide and innocent. _

_Gibbs swiveled around and asked exasperatedly, "Where the hell is Captain Donnely's office?!" _

_5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and…_

"_Alright, fine," DiNozzo snapped, pinning Gibbs with his own glare as he clicked a key on the computer and copied the address on the screen onto a post-it note he grabbed from a neighbouring desk. _

_Gibbs held back a smirk. If the kid wanted to play with the big boys, then he still had a lot to learn. DiNozzo ripped off the post-it note and stuck it on Gibbs jacket. Gibbs turned without a word and took off the note, allowing himself to show some surprise at the note DiNozzo had stuck on him. He did have to admit that the kid had guts… not many people would dare stick a pink, heart shaped post-it note on his jacket. _

_-----------------_

"You aren't serious about that, are you?" Kate asked in surprise. A pink post-it note? Not even Abby would dare do that.

"That's what it says," McGee informed her, shaking his head at Tony's antics. McGee was surprised Gibbs had let him live after that. The hardcore ex-marine didn't do pink. "There is one thing that seems kind of strange, though," the junior agent noted thoughtfully.

"What's that?" Kate asked, momentarily distracted from trying to think of a way that this scenario managed to end in a job offer, and later on, a very close friendship. True, she hadn't imagined Gibbs offering her a job either, but she hadn't hindered his investigation as much as Tony had.

"The actual address isn't written down," McGee told her, frowning as he scanned the report.

"That is strange," Kate agreed, brows furrowing, "why would he not put that in. What happened there?"

McGee skimmed through the following paragraphs, his eyebrows getting steadily higher as he went further. He'd known that Tony was brave, but this? This was… this was insane. He wouldn't be surprised if the NCIS psychologist would classify it as 'suicidal'.

"What?" asked Kate, seeing the look of surprised and awe on his face and wanting to know what caused it.

"He gave Gibbs the wrong address," McGee told her, "And then went and did the bust himself."

"You're kidding," Kate said, not knowing what else to say. "That's just… wow."

"Yeah," McGee said, "And I'm betting that it wasn't just somebody else house either, considering that Gibbs didn't leave a single way for anyone to find out what he busted."

"What did Gibbs do when he found out?" Kate asked, morbidly curious to know. She imagined a lot of yelling.

-------------------

"_You know, it really is kind of the Baltimore PD to let us use their autopsy and lab facilities," Ducky said to Gibbs, who had just walked in the doors with a scowl. The Medical Examiner had just finished a video conference with Abby and had come to share their current theories. "I say, Jethro, are you alright?"_

"_Not now, Duck," Gibbs said, tensely. "Just tell me where the hell that damn detective is."_

"_Detective DiNozzo?" Ducky asked, "Yes, he's quite a nice man, really. We exchanged a few stories, he really is an interesting individual. Did you know – "_

"_Ducky," Gibbs groaned. He couldn't believe that the detective had managed to get Ducky on his side. _

"_Ah, yes, where is he?" Ducky guessed what Gibbs wanted to know, correctly. "I do believe he was heading to their interrogation rooms, last I saw. I'll show you where they are."_

_They walked towards the interrogation rooms together, but were only halfway there when they saw DiNozzo walking towards them, obviously coming back from the area. Gibbs' scowl deepened when he saw the detective again, eyes narrowing at the carefree air. How could he have the nerve to smile at him like that when he had made him do a pointless and embarrassing 'bust'? _

"_Hello, Agent Gibbs," DiNozzo said to him cheerfully and then added to the Medical Examiner, "and Ducky, of course."_

_Gibbs' scowl deepened even more. That detective had sent him out to bust… that place and while he had been gone had managed to bond with his ME. Ducky was treating the young cop like on of his agents! _

_Gibbs growled at him, making DiNozzo smirk slightly, only for a moment, though at least he didn't let himself look smug. _

"_We, uh, finished with the interrogation, he gave us a clue after some… persuading," DiNozzo told him, slightly tentatively. Gibbs' eyes narrowed in suspicion. He may have only known DiNozzo for several days, but he knew enough to be wary of him actually helping and not being confident. _

"_I'll just go get you the address that he gave us," DiNozzo said to him, gesturing with both hands to the direction of the squadroom. _

"_Oh, no you don't," Gibbs growled, negating that idea immediately. "This time, we are sticking together." Gibbs glared at the cop to make his point. _

_It was only when DiNozzo lit up with an actual real smile, making him seem like a happy, well-loved guy (and making the senior agent see how he got Ducky to like him) and with a little bit of smugness hidden in there that he realized what he'd just done._

_After all his arguments and weaseling to get out of it, he had agreed to a joint op._

_The bastard had manipulated him!_

_-------------------------_

"Tony tricked Gibbs?" Kate asked, mouth dropping open. She could remember trying to do that several times to Gibbs, attempting to manipulate him into doing something she wanted. It had never worked, and Gibbs had always managed to turn it around on her.

"Uh-huh," McGee said, wide eyes showing that he was highly impressed at the notion. He wondered briefly what Gibbs had been like, having to write that part up, admitting that a cop had managed to manipulate him into agreeing to a joint op against his will. "It does kind of make more sense as to why he got hired, though," McGee added.

"No it doesn't," Kate negated, "What would have made more sense was for Gibbs to shoot him, not offer him a job."

"Maybe," McGee said, mulling over the thought. He continued to skim over the case report, looking for more defining parts of the relationship that had built up over the time that the case had lasted. "Tony was injured during the apprehension," McGee noted, scrolling down to near the end of the report.

"How badly?" Kate asked.

"Gunshot would to the abdomen, and a deep cut on his left arm," McGee read out, wincing at the thought of the injuries. He really was quite lucky that he hadn't really been injured on the job yet. He hadn't even had a concussion, unlike Tony who had had several just in the time that McGee had been on the team.

"Ouch," Kate said, also wincing. While she had been injured before, she had never been shot, something that she was very grateful for. "How long was he out for?"

"He had surgery on the gunshot wound," McGee began, reading from the doctors report that had been included in the case file. "Was in the hospital two days before he discharged himself AMA two days early. Returned to work the same day he left the hospital."

"Alright," Kate said slowly, "So Tony's habit of discharging himself AMA was obviously still the same. But what happened that he got hired? What, did he like working with Gibbs and applied for a job? Gibbs was obviously short on agents at the time…"

"Uh, no," McGee noted, continuing to read further, on the concluding statements. "Gibbs did offer him the job, apparently he and the director talked about it when Tony was in the hospital, after the surgery. Gibbs wanted to hire Tony and the Director approved."

"Let me read it," Kate told him, elbowing him over slightly so that she had a better vantage point.

------------------

_Tony walked into the darkened squadroom of Baltimore PD. There were a few cops scattered around, working various leads, tying up loose ends or just staying here while on duty. Despite the late hour, it was still relatively loud. _

_He walked over to his computer, turning it on and dropping into his chair with a sigh. He had refused to take any painkillers before leaving the hospital and his wounds were bothering him. Oh well. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle. _

"_Aren't you meant to be in the hospital?" a voice asked him from behind, making the detective turn around._

"_Agent Gibbs," he said in surprise. He was usually very good at reading people, but he could have sworn that Gibbs would have returned to DC by now. It was already quite the shock that both Gibbs and Ducky had been by to visit him in the hospital. "What are you still doing here?"_

_Gibbs scrutinized the young detective carefully. He had actually been back to Washington, but had come back. As much as he didn't want to admit it, somehow he had managed to grow attached to the kid; more so then he did with most of his own agents. Maybe it was the fact that the kid didn't have anyone else, other then his work partners. Gibbs hadn't failed to notice that his next of kin information changed regularly – usually at the same time he switched partners, or departments, or cities. _

_All he knew, was that when he saw that damned smile and realized that DiNozzo had managed to manipulate him – something that hadn't happened since Shannon and Kelly had been killed – he realized that the cop had some good potential, potential that wasn't being used at the various precincts he had worked at. _

"_Wanted to talk to you," Gibbs said neutrally, taking in DiNozzos pale features. He'd have to get Ducky to take a good look at the soon to be ex-cop before he put him on active duty. _

"_Okay…" DiNozzo drawled out, looking surprised. "If this is about my report, I can email it to you," he said, gesturing to the computer. He smirked when he noticed Gibbs' scowl toward the inanimate object. Gibbs was obviously not a big fan of technology. "Or, I could mail it," he offered, interlocking his hands together in front of him. _

"_You can give it to me in person," Gibbs told him bluntly. DiNozzo opened his mouth to say something, looking confused, but before he had the chance, Gibbs continued, "When you report for duty as my new agent." The former sniper dropped the forms on the desk, smirking at the dumb founded look on the new agents face._

_---------------_

"Wait, so that's what happened?" Kate asked.

"Well, he was obviously impressed," McGee pointed, thinking to himself, _I know I definitely was. I didn't think anyone could manipulate Gibbs. _

"Well, yeah, I suppose I can see why," Kate grudgingly admitted. "It's a heck of way to get hired, though."

"Tell me about it," McGee agreed, "Gibbs does seem to have the most… unique ways of finding new team members."

Kate nodded silently. "Hey, is there anything else in the file? We may as well finish it if Gibbs hasn't come back from MTAC yet."

----------------------

Tony rolled his eyes as he stepped out of the door of the club and into the side alley it led into. The waitress, a young college girl who had obviously taken the job for some extra cash, had asked him for his help with a few drunken idiots fighting. She had been nibbling her lip, obviously hesitating to ask a paying customer for help, but he had insisted on knowing what the matter was and had agreed to help. Besides, even if he wasn't on duty (and this technically wasn't quite his jurisdiction) it was still his duty to help people, and he doubted that a few drunk guys would be a problem.

And even if they were, he had his gun attached firmly to his ankle – a move that had most of his frat brothers both annoyed and awed.

"Hey," he barked out, using the voice he had mastered as a cop, having to break up hundreds of bar brawls and teenage parties that had gone out of hand, "break it up."

"Mind your own business," one of the heavyset men slurred, lunging at him with his arm outstretched in a clumsy punch. Tony moved out of the way, choosing to avoid a fight.

"Look, this is a public place, why don't you go and cool off," he said to them calmly, staring them down. It seemed that they were smart enough (or, at the very least, had learned enough survivors instinct) that they knew it wouldn't be a good idea to push a guy who exuded 'cop'.

They grumbled and glared at him but left in separate directions, one shouldering past the agent roughly to return into the bar.

Tony rolled his eyes, turning around to go back inside himself, when his sharp eyes caught something glinting on the ground. He walked towards it, bending down to pick it up.

His mouth was open to call to the guy that had walked into the bar, as the object had fallen right next to where he had been, when the engraving on it caught his eye.

Tony picked it up carefully, using the sleeve of his shirt, to take a closer look. "Well, that's strange," he murmured, scrutinizing it carefully, as his mind flashed back to a phone conversation several days before.

Still staring at the metal chain in his hands, Tony unclipped his cell phone from his belt, flipped it open and pressed one of his speed dials.

---------------------

_So… For those that wanted me to write a separate story about how Tony got hired, I am actually thinking about it; especially since I did leave some questions unanswered :) We shall see about that, but, beyond that, what did you think about _this _chapter? Let me know… let's see if anyone can guess who Tony called! _

_Please, review… and thank you to those who already have, I love all of you guys so much!_


	7. The File Again

_Well I have gone through back-to-school, bushfires, power outages, a freaking massive heatwave where it was around 44C (112F) for like 4-5 days straight since the last chapter was posted… do keep this in mind when we look at this update, yes? :p_

_Thanks so much to those that review, and I hope you continue to enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you thought…_

-----------------------------

"_I just did some good, old fashioned police work."_

_---------------------_

---------------------

Gibbs would never admit it to anyone alive (or dead, for that matter) but he definitely jumped when the shrill ring of his cell phone permeated the silence of the squadroom. Although his expression remained impassive, he felt like a deer caught in the headlights as he stared at his vibrating cell phone.

He stretched his arm out to be able to read the caller ID (no, it did _not _mean he was getting old!) his heart uncharacteristically thudding as he winced at the thought of what he would say to DiNozzo if it was him.

Abby. His shoulders nearly sagged in relief at the realization that it was just his forensic tech and not his senior field agent. DiNozzo knew him well enough that he would notice something was wrong, and Gibbs didn't particularly want the younger agent to know what his other two teammates were up to. He'd probably notice eventually, but Gibbs wanted to stretch out that eventually as long as possible, especially since he was positive it would lead a long night of them talking in his basement.

He flipped open the phone and brought it to his ear, answering in a tense voice, "You get those results, Abs?"

The Goths voice, not sounding tired at all despite the late (or early, depending on the way you looked at it) hour, answered, "Not yet, but – "

"Not now, Abs," Gibbs cut in, leaning his head back. For some reason he felt the need to stay right here until he heard Kate and McGee come back up.

"But – " Abby tried again, but Gibbs shut the phone, barely even giving her enough time to finish the first time.

-------------------

"What is it with everybody _doing _that this week," Abby complained, stamping her foot. "Seriously. When this is over I am going to have a serious talk with them. Hang on a sec, maybe Ducky will be able to help."

-------------------

"Is there even anything else left in the file," Kate asked McGee quietly, not wanting to be too loud.

"Shouldn't we get back to the bullpen?" McGee pointed out, glancing at his watch. He didn't particularly want to read more, it was beginning to feel intrusive, reading these things that Tony obviously hadn't wanted them to know.

"Nah, Gibbs will call us if he needs something, he'll probably just assume we went for coffee or down to Abby's for an update," Kate said dismissively, wanting to finish the file so that she could go home and think about everything.

"Leaving behind half-empty boxes of takeout on our desks?" McGee asked, raised eyebrows.

Kate winced, "I'd forgotten about that," she admitted, again metaphorically kicking herself. "Just skim through it," she urged him.

"Alright," McGee caved. "Uh, he doesn't take his vacation time very often," he noted, making Kate look at him in slight surprise.

"That was unexpected," she said, when was the time.

"Uh, enforced leave," McGee answered her, "the whole team was given three days off, plus they weren't rostered on for the weekend." Kate nodded thoughtfully, wondering momentarily over what had occurred for the Director to insist they take leave, before putting the thought aside. It wasn't important in the scheme of things.

"Has he ever put in for any transfer requests?" Kate asked curiously, knowing that these two things were in the same area of the file.

"Not himself," McGee answered her, but looking at the file with wide eyes. He hadn't expected that.

"But what?" Kate asked impatiently, sick of all the secrecy. Surely there wasn't more?

"As Senior Agent, Tony has to agree to all transfers," McGee told her, shock colouring his tone. "He can't hire people or anything, but he has to sign off on them."

Kate nodded, also surprised, before she froze, "Wait a second, does that mean…"

"He signed off on both of our transfers onto the team," McGee told her, still in shock. He hadn't really thought that Tony had really approved of Gibbs decision to hire him, to find out that he had wanted him on the team was a bit of a shock.

"So Tony could have chosen _not _to hire us," Kate confirmed slowly. At McGee's nod, she couldn't help but feel slight admiration for the man; her constant barbs at him and he had never once mentioned the fact that if it weren't for him she wouldn't even be there. _Definitely something to think about._

"All of his fitreps are above average," McGee offered, choosing to skip ahead, and deal with all the facts later.

"Really?" Kate asked, "huh, would have thought that constant junk food would have effected it."

"Nope," McGee said, hoping he kept his jealousy out of his voice. Tony ate far more junk food then McGee did, yet the junior agent had never gotten anywhere near the scores Tony managed.

----------------------

"Agent Gibbs, I just received – what…" Director Morrow stopped mid stride on his way into the bullpen, staring at one of him Major Crimes team leaders, and wondering what the heck Gibbs was doing sitting on the floor.

"Something happen, Director?" Gibbs asked neutrally, betraying none of the embarrassment he felt at being caught in this position by the director.

"Ah, yes," Morrow said, reminding himself why he was here, but still looking at Gibbs strangely. "I just talked Staff Sergeant Arnlows CO, he claims that he wants to talk with you and may know something."

"Thank you, sir," Gibbs replied, taking out his cellphone in preparation, "We'll get there right away."

"Of course," Morrow nodded, but hesitated before he turned away. "Jethro… do I want to – "

"I highly doubt it, sir," Gibbs cut in with a slight smile.

"Alright," Morrow murmured. "Just… make sure you stop by for coffee, Jethro." Morrow knew what Gibbs was like, and the only thing that could make him act so strangely was DiNozzo. And Morrow knew what it was like when Gibbs didn't know where DiNozzo was.

There had been a time when the young man had gone missing during a joint case with the FBI. The Director of their rival agency had been highly uncooperative, and as a result Gibbs had broken several very sensitive and expensive pieces of equipment. And that was when he'd had his coffee.

-------------------------

The shrill ringing of the phone made both Kate and McGee jump. They glanced at each other guiltily, before Kate took our her phone and, working to make herself sound innocent without sounding like she was trying to do so, answered with a curt, "Todd."

McGee motioned for her to put it on speaker, so that he could also hear what their boss was going to say. She agreed, and held out the phone between her and McGee.

"Hurry up and get up here," Gibbs barked, his annoyance obvious despite the bad quality. "We've got a lead."

"Be right up," Kate answered immediately, snapping her phone close after hearing the dial tone. She glanced at her watch and was surprised to see that it was well after 0500.

McGee closed the laptop but before he could pick it up, Kate told him, "Just leave it there, Gibbs will be suspicious if we go up with a laptop."

"Are you sure?" McGee asked hesitatingly, looking averse to leaving his laptop in the stairwell.

"Yeah, it will be fine," Kate told him, "now hurry up!"

They walked down the stairs together so that they could get off on the next level and take the elevator back up so as to avoid suspicion. As they did so, they both let their minds wander to what they had read.

Kate didn't think that there could be anything that astounded her the way that the file had. When she had first gotten the idea to hack into Tony's personnel file, she had wanted to find out why Gibbs trusted him so much, and was apparently so much more at ease when he was around. She'd never thought of it before, since Gibbs was generally just a plain bastard, but she had noticed over the course of the last several days that he got steadily more bad-tempered the longer Tony was gone.

She had never thought that Tony had kept these kinds of things secret. She was annoyed at herself that she hadn't even considered these things, always pegging Tony as a jock who had had it easy his whole life. Knowing all the heartbreak he had gone through both put things in a different perspective and also made her feel like an idiot.

McGee felt similar. He never would have expected to learn these kind of things about Tony. The same as Kate, he had always seen Tony as an open book, not caring who knew about him and giving away information freely. The idea that in reality, Tony barely said a word to them about his past didn't sit quite right with him.

He also couldn't help but wonder _why_ he was so surprised. While he was still a Probie, nearly a year on Gibbs' team and several as a federal agent had taught him not to be surprised at human behaviour. (The different ways humans had thought up to torture and kill people was a completely different story.)

Although he almost felt ashamed to admit it, even to himself, he realized that he had automatically put Tony and Gibbs together in the same boat (no allusion to Gibbs' boat intended.) From that first time he'd met Gibbs, and even before with the stories he'd heard, that the former marine lived for the job, and he didn't let anything stop him from doing so. Similarly, Tony never let anything get him down, and nobody could have ever said that Tony didn't have passion for his job.

They did there job completely differently, but in the end, both of them were willing to do whatever it took, and subconsciously, McGee realized that he had grouped them together in his mind, and in doing so, had pegged them almost as infallible.

As much as Tony teased him, or bantered with Kate, looking back, McGee could remember that he was always right, he just didn't say it straight out or, in different circumstances, warn them in conventional methods.

Adding all of that with Tony's personality and his happy-go-lucky attitude, McGee had never imagined that Tony had faced such hardships in his life. He had never even considered the notion of Gibbs going through some sort of heartbreak, and just the same, he hadn't thought of Tony going through one. Kate, Abby, Ducky… he had seen them upset at one point, but never Tony and Gibbs.

It was still difficult to think of the man he knew that teased him, yet at the same time shielded him somewhat from Gibbs (he hadn't failed to notice that he had gotten many more headslaps then normal in the time since Tony had been gone) had gone through a truly difficult life to get to where he was now.

It opened so many more avenues of thought, and, as they walked toward the elevator, McGee promised himself that he would look more closely at Tony and see if the senior agent ever gave a hint of his past in how he acted.

-------------------

"Abigail," Ducky said in a scolding voice as he maneuvered around her from where she had just burst in through the doors.

"First of all, don't call me Abigail!" Abby complained to him, narrowing her eyes.

"Don't burst into my autopsy room," Ducky told her, "what if I had been carrying a sample?"

"Ugh," Abby said, though she didn't look particularly disgusted at the thought.

Ducky chuckled at her and asked, "Speaking of samples, did you need more of them, my dear?"

"What? Oh, no," Abby replied, sounding slightly distracted. "There's no point, anyway."

"Oh?" Ducky responded, raising an eyebrow. "I haven't heard anything about our fearless leader in interrogation. Although, that does remind me – "

"Not now, Ducky," Abby interrupted. "And I've been trying to get a hold of you, what's with the busy phone line?"

Ducky didn't look at all perturbed at the interruption, he was far too used to it. "I believe Mr Palmer is talking to the Legal Department about several things. Is something the matter?"

"No. Well, not really," Abby amended, "it's just Gibbs hung up on me and – "

"Really," Ducky mused, uncharacteristically interrupting her. "Jethro has been acting strange today."

"What _is _it with you people and interrupting me," Abby exclaimed, frustrated.

"Oh, of course, my apologies, my dear," Ducky apologized. "What did you need?"

"Just come up to my lab, I'm sure Jimmy can handle the lawyers," Abby responded, grabbing a hold of his shirt sleeve and dragging him to the elevator.

-----------------

_I am in particular curious to know what you all thought of Kate and McGees (and for those who said I didn't pay enough attention to McGee, I've fixed that :p) little snippets about what they thought. And a little chuckle at you guys, since everybody thought Tony called Gibbs and, obviously, he didn't..._

_As always, let me know what you thought (particularly since I need cheering up after returning to school!) Love you all! :)_


	8. The Case Again

_Yeah, you know that 'worst bushfire in Australian history'? That would be the one that was near me… it was actually raining ash here at one point, and several houses near my best friends burned down. To be honest, I completely panicked when I heard about those… left her about a hundred messages (turns out she was at work). But anyway, that would be the reason that this one is a little later… its been absolutely, insanely hectic in Victoria._

_As for the actual fic; I can't believe none of you realized who Tony called! I thought it was kind of obvious last chapter, but apparently not. Oh, well, you find out in this one! Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you thought. _

_---------------------_

"_Rule Number 4: Never assume. Always double check."_

_---------------------_

"Well, that was a waste of time," Kate complained, leaning on one of the rails in front of the office they had just exited.

"We found a possible killer and motive, Agent Todd. How is that a waste?" Gibbs responded tersely, glaring at her. He had been quite snappish with the two junior agents all day, but both of them had put it down to lack of sleep and caffeine.

"I think she's referring to the interviews we've spent the last seven hours doing," McGee said, rolling his shoulders to dispel a crick in his neck. This time, he wasn't even surprised at the head slap – many of them had come his way today. _Now I know how Tony feels, _he thought himself, for the umpteenth time that day.

"They could have given us some information," Gibbs said to them, though he did agree that in hindsight, the interviews were pointless. But he would still prefer to be here and doing _something _then going back to the office and just waiting for results to come through, not to mention having to think about his two junior agents little rendezvous in Tony's personnel file. "Lets head back," he said to them, going down the few steps to get to the car.

"See if we can find Cormac," Kate finished his train of thought, pushing herself off the railing and stretching her neck as she too walked to the car.

"And find out what's going on with the test results," McGee added, following them, "I wonder what's taking Abby so long."

"Yeah, I know, you would think she'd have finished them by now," Kate agreed.

Gibbs nodded silently, he had also wondered several times over the course of the day why his forensic tech hadn't called with results. He somewhat regretted hanging up on her now.

------------------

"What's going on, Abs?" Gibbs asked, striding in with an extra large (he didn't know how they could make extra large cups when the normal ones were already so big) Caf-Pow (and coffee for himself, of course) and his two junior agents trailing behind him.

"Gibbs," Abby jumped, turning from the screen she and Ducky had been watching something. "It's about time you got back."

"What's going on with the test results, Abby?" Gibbs asked in his no-nonsense voice. He really couldn't wait until DiNozzo got back. Things just weren't right without him there.

"Hello to you too, Jethro," Ducky said wryly.

"What?" Abby blinked in surprise. "Oh, the tests. Those finished ages ago, but that's beside the point."

"Beside the point? Abby, why the hell didn't you call me?" Gibbs asked, as angrily as he ever did with the young scientist.

"Because, and you would have known this if any of you had bothered to listen to me," Abby argued heatedly, "Tony called me."

"And…" Gibbs prompted tensely.

"And I do believe we got you a confession," a voice behind him stated. The three agents turned around and saw their until-then missing senior field agent standing behind them and waving a cassette tape that had obviously come from one of the recorders from their interrogation rooms.

"What the," Gibbs started, honestly surprised to see Tony standing in front of him.

"Weren't you on vacation?" Kate asked, not quite processing what had just happened.

"Yeah, funny story that," Tony said to them, "I was at a bar with my friends…

------------------

_Staring at the metal chain in his hands, Tony unclipped his cell phone from his belt, flipped it open and pressed one of his speed dials._

_He waited impatiently as the phone rang several times before it was picked up with, "Abby Sciutos lab, you are on the air."_

"_Hey, Abs. Listen, was the murdered marines name Jeffrey Arnlow?" Tony asked, not bothering to beat around the bush._

"_Hi, Tony. And yeah, it was, why do you ask?" Abby asked curiously. _

"_Because I think I just found his dog tags," Tony stated, sighing as he looked at the name engraved on the name plate. _

_------------------_

"His dog tags?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah," Tony replied, gesturing at the evidence bag lying on the table which, on closer inspection, did reveal marine dog tags.

-------------------

"_Wait, seriously? How? where?"_

"_Some club a couple hours out of DC," Tony informed her. "I broke up a fight, one of them dropped it."_

"_Gibbs said he probably took it as a trophy or something," Abby offered, leaning back in her chair in her lab._

"_Yeah, I guessed that," Tony said, sighing. "Listen, can you and somebody else – call Gibbs or something – and organize an interrogation room. I'll see if I can get this guy back to DC to question."_

"_Okay. I'll call, see if we can get anything else to tie him either to Arnlow or to the crime scene. Call me when you get the name," Abby ordered._

"_Will do," Tony answered, snapping his phone shut and staring into space for a moment. So much for a peaceful break._

_--_

"_Hey, Matt," Tony called out as he made his way through the throng of people to get to his friends._

"_Hey, man, what's up?" Matt turned around to grin at him happily. _

"_Listen, man, something's come up, and I've got to go," Tony answered apologetically, maneuvering them to a quieter area of the club. _

"_What? Come on, man," Matt started to complain, as another of their friends joined them in time to catch the tail end of their conversation._

"_Ah, come on, Tony, you're bailing?" Andy griped, frowning._

"_Yeah, but I can make it up to you," Tony said, a plan forming in his head._

"_Yeah, how's that?" Andy asked, exchanging a look with Matt._

"_How'd you like to help me arrest someone," Tony said to them, seriously. _

_Both of his frat brothers laughed, but then saw his face. _

"_Wait, are you serious?" Matt asked disbelievingly. _

_Tony smiled at them._

_------------------_

"You got your frat brothers to help you arrest him?" Kate asked, disapprovingly.

"Well, it was a better idea then trying to do it myself," Tony retorted, "besides, Matt and Andy were both on the sports teams with me, and they haven't exactly let themselves go."

"So you arrested the guy, brought him to DC, and got him to confess," McGee said slowly, trying to comprehend it.

"Cormac," Abby informed them, "his name in Joseph Cormac."

"He was the one who had a grudge against Arnlow," Kate realized, remembering from their conversation with Arnlow's CO.

"Yeah, we found that out when Tony sent me his name," Abby told them. "Ducky and I also looked through the footage of the security camera from the closest gas station to where Arnlow was found, and we saw a car that matches Cormacs drive through about a half hour after Arnlow went through. Cormac isn't exactly the smartest and Tony got the full story out of him, easy," she finished, gesturing to the computer and making them realize that she and Ducky must have been watching the footage of the interrogation.

"How did you get him here?" Gibbs asked. "You didn't drive him here in your Corvette?" Gibbs really hoped Tony wasn't stupid enough to have driven a suspected murderer, alone, for four or five hours to get to DC. He really shouldn't have hung up on Abby.

"Yes, I was quite adverse to that idea, myself," Ducky jumped into the explaining for the first time. "So we called the local LEO's and asked for their co-operation in getting Cormac to the Navy Yard."

"And they agreed?" McGee asked, remembering all the territorial LEO's they had come across before. Those weren't exactly the type to let them borrow a cop car to transport a suspect away from their jurisdiction.

"A friend of Tony's works at the PD we called," Abby informed them. "It was easy enough."

"So… that's it. It's over… just like that?" Kate asked, sounding slightly bemused. It seemed a little anti-climactic for her, after so long working the case, and it was over so quickly.

There was silence for a moment, then Gibbs turned to Abby, handing her a Caf-Pow, and then turned to DiNozzo, and handed him his coffee, getting a surprised 'thank you' in return. "Good work," Gibbs said simply, then turned to the ME, "Duck,"

"I will make sure to charge you for my next cup of Earl Grey," Ducky chuckled.

After another moment of silence, McGee groaned, "All those interviews for nothing." Then he remembered where he was, and automatically braced himself for the headslap.

"Aw, did poor little Probie have information overload. Didn't they teach you to simplify things at FLETC?" Tony teased, deflecting Gibbs' attention from McGee onto himself.

McGee looked at Tony slightly strangely, making the senior agent slightly suspicious. Usually McGee reacted to Tony's barbs with annoyance or embarrassment, this look was more thoughtful, as though he knew the reasons behind the former cops words.

Tony's eyes flicked between Gibbs and the two junior members of his team, wondering what was going on. Had something happened while he had been gone? He highly doubted it, although he could remember that Vivian had treated him slightly differently after he'd gotten back after being forced to spend a whole day in court because of a case he'd had way back when he was with the Philly PD. She had told him that Gibbs had been in an even worse bad mood then usual, but Tony had assumed it was because he had been an agent down.

This reaction from Kate and McGee – because Kate was also 'surreptitiously' giving him thoughtful looks every now and then – seemed to suggest something else, but he had no idea what.

"Yeah, well, we're not exactly finished yet," Gibbs informed them, also taking in the looks his two junior agents were giving his senior.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked, oblivious to the thoughts going through everyone elses heads, and only really thinking that she was thrilled her best friend was back. Although she was glad Tony got a break, she preferred it if they took time off together – for one thing, it was far more fun.

"Plenty of forms just waiting to be filled in," Gibbs said to them with a slight smirk. The last week had caused Tim and Kate to develop the normal hatred of paperwork held by most people in the employ of the federal government.

They all groaned, even Abby, who had plenty of her own reports to fill in, not to mention evidence to log into lock up.

"Yay, bureaucracy," Tony said sarcastically, pushing himself off from where he was leaning on the table to head up to the bullpen and his neglected desk (at least, he hoped it was neglected, he hated people going through his stuff when he wasn't there).

"Not you, DiNozzo," Gibbs ordered, "You're still on vacation. Agents Todd and McGee can handle it." The icy blue stare really gave them no alternative except to nod in agreement.

"Uh, Boss," Tony responded to the order unsurely, looking slightly stunned. Gibbs wasn't exactly the type to let you off work; quit the contrary, he was the type to push you until there was literally nothing left to get.

"I'll meet you at the entrance in twenty," the former marine informed his senior agent, knowing the man would get his hidden message. Tony always stayed at Gibbs' house the night after being away. Neither of them really knew where the little tradition originated, but they always followed it anyway.

"Seriously," Tony stated, still looking surprised at being let off from the torture that was paperwork.

"Gibbs," Kate started to complain, but then shut her mouth, stopping because for one thing, Gibbs was giving her one of his worst glares, the one that was usually reserved for murdered, and also because she realized she would be able to get a better handle on what she had read in Tony's personnel file if she wasn't around the man himself. "Gibbs is right," she recovered, speaking with a slight, forced smile. "You're still on leave, you should take advantage of it."

"Yeah, we'll see you later," McGee agreed with Kate, following her as they maneuvered around the forensics lab in order to get to the door.

"Yeah, I'll see you… probably tomorrow," Tony said to them, looking at them suspiciously. Why were they being so nice?

Gibbs paused before he walked out the door, pointing to Tony, and stating, "Entrance – "

"Twenty minutes, got it, Boss," Tony responded automatically, receiving a nod in return from his boss as the NCIS agent strode out to get to the elevator with the other two agents.

He immediately turned to the two forensic specialists and demanded, "What the heck is going on?"

"What do you mean?" Abby asked, as she and Ducky both turned to the Italian agent.

"Didn't you see how strange Kate and McGee were acting?" Tony asked, gesturing to the door with one of his hands.

"They just missed you, my boy," Ducky said to him, "we all did."

"Uh-huh," Tony said disbelievingly. He doubted that this reaction was because they had missed him, actually, he was pretty sure they were thrilled when he told them he was taking the week off. "Whatever, guys. I better go, have a nice night."

"You too," Ducky replied, smiling as he patted Tony on the arm.

"Yeah, have fun with the boss-man," Abby agreed, giving Tony a long, hard hug.

A really long hug, Tony found when he discovered that Abby wasn't letting go of him. "Uh, Abs?" he asked, looking down at the black hair resting on his shoulder.

"Yes, Tony?" the goth responded, voice muffled by Tony's clothes.

"You know, you're going to have to let me go," DiNozzo prompted her, patting her on the back. Ducky chuckled and decided to take his leave… Palmer was most likely wondering where he'd disappeared to for half the day.

"I'm just making up for a whole week of no hugs," Abby said, picking her head up to look at him with wide eyes.

"Abby, knowing you, you probably gave me a virtual hug every day," Tony said to her, knowledgably.

"One? You think that's all I would want to give you?" Abby exclaimed, now glaring at him, but still not letting go of the hug.

"No, of course not," Tony hastily corrected himself, knowing that if he didn't, he would have a whole lot of hugs to deal with, and probably some black roses too, knowing Abby. "I'm sure you gave me plenty."

"Damn straight," Abby muttered, putting her head down to lean on Tony's shoulder again. She always loved to give Tony hugs. For one thing, after she had gotten him used to them, he was a lot more receptive to them then Gibbs. She also knew that it made him feel wanted to get hugs. That was their dynamic. Gibbs gave him headslaps and Abby gave him hugs.

But she also loved them because hugging Tony's strong body (and not to mention feeling all those muscles, that she always wondered where they came from, given the amount of junk food that Tony ate) always gave her a feeling of safety, it was like how she always imagined hugging a big brother would be like.

After a minute or so, Tony finally said, "Alright, Abby, you know I love you, but I really need to go."

"Alright, fine," Abby pouted unwillingly, letting go of him. "Bye, bye."

"Later, Abs," Tony said laughingly, turning around and walking out the door.

Abby smiled as she turned around to her computer and started tapping keys when a thought occurred to her. She turned to the door and called out, "Hey, Tony."

"Next to the computer, Abby," Tony called back, amusement evident in his voice.

Abby turned back around and walked several steps over to the small table that was next to her monitors. She grinned with glee at the sight of a present wrapped in black paper and silver ribbon sitting there innocently.

----------------

"Hey, Pete," Tony said to the security guard standing next to the security desk at the entrance.

"Tony, welcome back," Pete said genuinely. Tony was quite good friends with most of the security staff, it tended to be a given when you walked all the odd hours that Tony did. "Actually, its good timing. I've been looking for someone from your team all day."

"We've all been busy," Tony answered with a grin, spinning his keys around in his hand, "what did you need?"

"I did a security check when I started my shift this morning," Pete explained, "and I ran through the stairwell, nearly tripped over a laptop and killed myself."

"A laptop?" Tony asked, looking surprised. "What the heck was a laptop doing in the stairwell?"

"I was wondering that exact same thing," Pete responded wryly, "anyway, I checked it, and it's registered to your team."

"My team?" Tony asked, bewildered. "Can I have a look?"

"Yeah, sure, I brought it down here, was planning on giving it to one of you, but like I said, I couldn't find you," Pete informed him, bending down to the side of the desk and picking up the black laptop, turning it around so the screen faced the senior field agent.

Tony turned it back on, making the computer whir after so long on standby. He tapped a few keys and then rose his eyebrows at what came up on the screen.

"What the hell?"

--------------------------

_Oh, dear… another cliffhanger. :p Anyway, I actually wrote this in two parts, so let me know if it was bumpy at any point._

_But for now, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and please review. This will be winding down in the next couple of chapters…_


	9. The Basement

_Posting this very late at night, and with a headache, so apologize for mistakes, just thought you'd want it sooner rather then later!_

_Enjoy the penultimate chapter… The next one will be the last one._

-------------------------

"_Boat. Bourbon. Basement."_

_-------------------------_

Gibbs let the soothing motion of his sanding wash over him as he pushed the old fashioned sander backwards and forwards on the wood panels of his boats, contemplating his senior field agent.

Tony had been strangely quiet on the drive home, only mentioning that they should drop by for pizza, an idea Gibbs firmly vetoed, saying that Tony needed some real food after nearly a week eating who knew what kind of junk.

So they had gotten home and Tony had immediately gone upstairs to what Gibbs now called Tony's room, rather then the guest room (he only ever had one guest anyway…) The younger agent claimed that he had to get changed since he was still in the same clothes he'd gone clubbing in last night, and that he should also call his buddies to assure them he was alright.

Gibbs had let him go and gone into the kitchen, trying to decide what to make for their dinner. In the end, he had decided to throw together a quick casserole, setting it in the oven to cook before going down to the basement to wait for Tony. He had planned to make lasagna, but with DiNozzo showing up two days early, that plan was down the drain.

And now he was sanding his boat, listening for the sound of creaking floorboard to alert him to his senior agent coming down to join him.

He didn't have to wait long. Which was good, since Gibbs hated not knowing something, and Tony brooding instead of giving him a very long account of what had happened on his holiday definitely meant that there was something going on. He just hoped it wasn't something big, since he still had to work out a way to let the younger man know what had occurred while he had been gone.

"Sandpapers on the bench, Tony," Gibbs said to younger man as he descended the steps.

Tony sent a frustrated look at his superior – who had his back turned towards him. "How do you do that?" he complained, walking over to the bench and hesitantly picking up the sander, but making no particular move towards the boat.

Although Tony had stayed at Gibbs' house many times, he had only just recently actually started to help Gibbs out with the building of the boat, and still tended to be rather insecure about it.

It was something that Gibbs had noticed within the first week that they had worked together, so many years ago now. Despite his seeming confidence, Tony could be very insecure at times, particularly about his relationships with other people. Gibbs knew it was because of a difficult childhood, though Tony rarely spoke of it. The first time Gibbs had found out about it was after a difficult abuse case (a father killed his six year old son, but didn't even notice the poor boy was dead), and Gibbs had gone to Tony's to insure his agent was alright. What he found was an empty bottle of vodka, and a Tony that spilled far more then he remembered the next day.

"The second one needs some work," Gibbs offered, gesturing towards one of the rungs of his boat.

Tony glanced towards it, taking the several steps but then holding onto wood and leaning against it. He was obviously trying to say something, but didn't know how to start.

After several moments, Gibbs decided to push a little, "Something on your mind?"

"Yeah," Tony sighed, but didn't elaborate.

Gibbs looked over at his second, taking in the comfortable sweats that he had changed into, that made him look a lot younger then any of those designer suits he wore.

"Kate and McGee," Tony said simply, looking Gibbs in the eye.

Gibbs didn't break the gaze, looking into the green eyes, and realized that something else had beaten him to the punch. Tony knew that Kate and McGee had looked through his personnel file. Though he made no physical reaction, he swore inside his head. That wasn't good. It would have been a lot easier if Gibbs had broken it to the younger man slowly… preferably after several cups of bourboun.

"They did some hacking," Gibbs said, responding to the fact that they both knew what had occurred. "Not very subtly, I might add."

He had been hoping to get a laugh, but Tony didn't budge an inch. "They hacked into my personnel file."

"How did you know?" Gibbs asked simply, knowing that Tony would get the hidden meaning that the former sniper knew what had happened.

"Does that even matter?" Tony snapped, now slightly raising his voice.

"Just curiosity," Gibbs responded, not changing his tone of voice at all. Hopefully, it would encourage Tony to stay calm.

At that, Tony snorted derisively. By now, both men had put down the handheld sanders, and were standing across from each other, at the end of the boat. Tony was leaning against the wooden frame itself, while Gibbs was leaning against the table – the same one that had the alcohol in it.

"You knew they were doing it," Tony stated flatly, not bothering to phrase it as a question. It was obvious that Gibbs knew exactly what had happened; and he didn't know whether that made him angry.

"I overheard them, and saw them scuttling off to the stairwell," Gibbs told him frankly, not insulting the younger agent by telling him lies now.

"Well, why the hell didn't you stop them?" Tony exclaimed, allowing anger to enter his voice for the first time.

Gibbs leant closer to the best senior field agent he'd had in his many years as an NCIS investigator. He looked Tony in the eyes, and held the gaze, before he said, "Because it was about damn time they learned some things."

"They had no right," Tony insisted, voice still louder then normal, though he wasn't quite yelling.

"They're investigators, Tony," Gibbs reminded him, "they're bound to be curious, and you don't exactly give them a whole lot to work with."

"I give them plenty to work with," Tony retorted. "They have never felt the need to go traipsing around in my past before."

"Yeah, well, seems like the last week gave them a new perspective," Gibbs said, letting out a small chuckle. It actually surprised him that his agents always managed to work out more about the man when he wasn't around. The same thing had happened with Vivian, and even back when they had worked with Rob, Dawn, and any number of the probies that they had taken on.

"So they decide to illegally hack into my file?" Tony asked, running a hand through his hair. There was a reason he always talked about his personal life around Kate and McGee. If they thought he told them everything, then they would never think to go digging through his past.

"They got curious," Gibbs replied simply.

"So you just decided to let this 'curiosity' go ahead," Tony exclaimed disbelievingly, jaw tightening in anger.

Gibbs simply nodded, knowing that Tony hadn't quite finished yet. He let the younger man blow off some of his anger first, knowing that he would be far more likely to listen afterwards.

"I mean, for goodness sakes, Gibbs, there are some things in there that they don't need to know about. That _I _don't want them to know about. Did you even think of that when you just let them go ahead and go rummaging through my past?"

"Hey," Gibbs snapped, letting his eyes narrow in a glare for the first time in the conversation. "You better be damn sure that I was thinking about you. That was why I let them go ahead. I would have stopped them if it was something that you really wouldn't want them to know."

"There was plenty in there that I don't want them to know about," Tony shot back, his mind flashing through several painful memories. His father disowning him at the age of twelve, and losing the chance to ever play pro ball because of a broken leg, which then also led to loss of his fiancé, were the three that stood out majorly in his mind.

"But they were things that would help them understand you," Gibbs told him, making a noticeable effort to avoid succumbing to his easily aroused temper.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Tony asked, shaking his head.

"After reading that, they know you better. They know what makes you tick. And they will be far more willing to accept why you are my second in command," Gibbs told him straight out, never one to sugarcoat things.

"They were doing it just fine beforehand," the ex-cop rebutted, but his words were no longer scathing. He knew what Gibbs was trying to say. Kate had never really accepted the fact that he technically had authority over her. He knew that most people found it difficult to respect him as a federal agent; he helped it along half the time.

Tony stared at Gibbs, taking in the mans honest gaze, and knew that Gibbs really had had his best interest in mind. He supposed that he could admit that it was getting to be annoying having too constantly remind the two junior agents that they had to listen to him. And it had come dangerously close to compromising their mission in Paraguay, which was something Tony couldn't condone.

Still, the idea that Kate and McGee had just gone and looked through his personal information really didn't sit well with him. But he couldn't blame Gibbs for that. The older man hadn't given the junior agents the idea, and he also had to think about what was best for the team, and for the people whom they served. Innately, he knew that Gibbs would have put a stop to it if the file had held some of the other information of his past. For the first time in his life, Tony thanked the expensive team of lawyers his father had.

The two men were still staring at each other, though Tony's posture was no longer hostile. But before either could speak, the timer rang from the kitchen.

"That will be the food," Gibbs said, half posing it as a question, so that Tony could continue their previous conversation if he wanted to.

"I'm not really hungry," Tony replied, sighing as he decided to leave the conversation as it was. Arguing with Gibbs any longer wouldn't do anything. It would be better to spend his time thinking of a way to get back at Kate and McGee. He may grudgingly agree that it was a good thing they had read through the damn thing, but that didn't mean he had to pleased that his two junior agents had invaded his privacy.

"I ask if you were hungry?" Gibbs asked simply, smiling slightly as he heard Tony groan in annoyance. He was glad that things were okay between the two of them, but still knew that he was going to be turning a blind eye to various misdemeanours tomorrows. But he didn't mind. Tony was going to be back where he belonged; where Gibbs could keep an eye on him.

"Geez. Next you'll tell me I have a bed time, too," Tony grumbled as he followed the ex-marine up the stairs.

"Figured you should get a decent nights sleep, you've probably barely had any the last week," Gibbs said, turning the light off in the basement as he headed into the kitchen. He turned around in time to catch Tony's shocked look.

"You are kidding, right?" the younger man asked, rather doubtfully. Gibbs didn't usually joke around about that kind of thing.

---------------------

To Tony's surprise (though not to his annoyance, which was nearly as surprising), Gibbs hadn't been joking about the bedtime.

After eating, they had returned to the basement, and Tony had actually done some sanding that time as they talked over things a little more. However, after the time had passed eleven, Gibbs had sent him up to the guest bedroom with a terse order and, when that hadn't worked, a glare that not even the former homicide detective dared argue with.

Tony had gotten changed into his Ohio State sweatshirt and boxers for bed, and was now sitting cross legged on his bed. There was still one more thing he wanted to do before going to bed.

---------------------

_Well… what did we think of this chapter? I hope it's alright, it was probably the most difficult to write… _

_An interesting (and strange) tidbit… I actually experienced an earthquake while writing this. I am not kidding. I was somewhere near the 'curiosity' lines when the ground started shaking. It only last about 10 seconds but still… It's really whacked, since last time I checked, Australia was _on _a tectonic plate, not on the border of one. _

_Anyway, enough about me… please, tell me what you thought! _


	10. The End

_My first multi-chapter NCIS fic has been completed. It's a strange feeling… I hope you all enjoyed the ride as much as I did. _

_And, I also noticed, thanks to some comments, that it really hasn't been a good month. My last two updates were both during/after some kind of disaster. But not this week… I'm going away tomorrow and it's my birthday on Saturday! _

_Anyway, enjoy the final installment of Smarter, Not Harder. _

-----------------

"_Did it make you feel better?" "Sure didn't hurt."_

_------------------_

"Long time, no see," Kate said wryly to McGee as they entered the elevator together. McGee scoffed and hit the button for their floor.

They had both stayed late last night in an attempt to finish off the paperwork, which had apparently accumulated because they hadn't done any over the course of the actual case. However, Gibbs had said that only their preliminary reports had to be finished before they went home last night and the rest of the paperwork could be finished today.

"Won't this be fun," McGee groaned, uncharacteristically grumpy because of the little sleep he had gotten last night. After heading home, he had decided to try some writing, but found himself at a block. He just couldn't work out how Agent Tommy would react in the situation in the book. He had been shredding paper for half the night and had absolutely nothing to show for his efforts.

"It's no wonder Gibbs drinks all that coffee, he'd need it to fill out all those forms," Kate joked, walking out of the elevator next to Tim as the doors opened out into the squadroom.

"Morning, Katie," Tony said cheerfully as he bounded across several steps to catch up with them. He was carrying a cup of coffee and a single black rose, leading the two junior agents to guess that he had just been down with Abby before coming up to the bullpen.

Kate scowled at Tony for the nickname, but her annoyance was tempered down a fair amount after everything she had read the other night. She had attempted to get an early night when she went home but her mind was constantly invaded by images of a younger Tony facing all the heartbreak that she never would have imagined he had gone through.

"Coffee, Tony?" she asked, arching her eyebrow as she attempted to hide her thoughts from Tony. For one thing, she certainly didn't want him to know that she had gone through his personnel file. "Didn't get a decent nights sleep last night?"

"Oh, no, I got a very good nights sleep," Tony replied, scowling towards Gibbs to the confusion of the two junior agents, and the amusement of their team leader, if the slight smile on his face was anything to go by.

"Good, because we all have work to do," Gibbs said simply, hiding his smile. He and Tony had gotten in about two hours ago, and considering the fact that Tony had hardly been at his desk in that time, he got the feeling he was in for an interesting day.

"Yay," Kate said, deadpan, throwing her backpack down beside her desk and turning on her computer before sitting down, leaning back to stretch. McGee and Tony both did the same, and it was silent for several moments as everybody waited for their computer to start up.

"Uh, Kate, what are you trying to do?" McGee asked several minutes later. Kate was frowning and pressing the on button of her computer with increasing frustration.

"My computer won't turn on," she exclaimed, glaring at the inanimate object.

"You mean it's giving you some kind of error message?" McGee asked, glancing at her as he opened the file that held his case report. He impatiently closed the pop-up that appeared, making a note to himself to check and install any updates today or tomorrow.

"No, I mean, it won't start up," Kate told them, pushing the on button again angrily, trying to hold down her temper. Sometime she really hated computers.

"Did you check whether it was plugged in?" Tony asked, already having opened his file and typing. Gibbs was surreptitiously looking at his three agents, guessing that these 'random' occurrences had something to do with why his senior field agent had been down with his forensic scientist for so long.

"No," Kate acknowledged, hoping that it was the case, even if it would make her feel stupid. At least she wouldn't have lost anything important on her computer, nor would she lose time waiting for it to get fixed.

"I'll… what the heck?" McGee said, now staring at his own computer. He had been about to say that he would check Kates wires and cords, when he noticed that another pop-up had appeared. He closed it, but then another immediately appeared, with an annoying dinging sound. 'How are you,' he read silently, wondering what in the world was going on. Computers did not randomly come up with pop-ups asking their owner how they were. He clicked the exit button in the corner of the pop-up again, but another immediately appeared with a ding. He tried it twice more to the same effect.

Gibbs was getting annoyed with the incessant annoying beeping noise. He looked up from his work to glare at his newest agent and saying sharply, "Will you shut that thing up, McGee."

"Uh, sorry, boss," McGee said, flushing as he went to the volume icon at the bottom of the screen. But when he clicked on that, the computer made another noise and the pop-up simply flashed on the screen. In rising desperation, he tried to hit the little loudspeaker several times, to the same effect.

"It… uh, it won't work," he nearly whispered, trying to exit the pop-up, only to have another one come up immediately afterward.

"What do you mean, it won't work," Gibbs asked, looking up from his work to glare at the probationary agent. The incessant noise was really beginning to annoy him.

"As far as I can tell, everything is plugged in," Kate announced, getting out from under her desk, hitting her on button again with a scowl.

"I'll… uh, help you in a sec," McGee said, now flustered as he continuously kept clicking his mouse to try and get rid of the damned pop-ups.

Tony hid a smile as Kate hit her mouse in frustration, glaring at the stubbornly pitch black computer screen. Abby really had outdone herself, even if the annoying beeping from McGee's computer was beginning to get frustrating. But it was well worth it for the look on McGee's face.

Gibbs just sighed, shaking his head, but also pleased to see his senior field agent enjoying himself. Tony hadn't looked that legitimately happy on the job for a long while now, and for a man that lived for his job, that was a slight worry. His smile quickly turned into a scowl as McGee's computer beeped for what had to be the hundredth time. At least he knew why Tony had brought him coffee, he thought, bringing the cup to his lips.

"Stupid bloody…" Kate swore at the machine, frustration getting the better of her. Technology always seemed able to ignite her temper. That and overbearing men who reminded her of her brothers. "Maybe I should call Abby," she considered, watching McGee still trying to deal with the pop-ups on his screen.

"Patience is a virtue, Katie," Tony said to her, smirking as he leant back in his chair.

"It's Kate," she snapped at him with narrowed eyes, temper frayed by the annoying malfunctioning of technology. She pressed the on button one more time before finally caving, picking up the phone to call Abby since it seemed like McGee wasn't going to be able to get rid of his pop-ups anytime soon.

She picked up the handset and pressed the speed dial for the extension to Abby's lab, bringing it up to her ear as it started to ring. "What now?" she asked frustratingly, staring at the phone as the cord refused to stretch out more then a few centimeters. "Oh, this is ridiculous," she grumbled, leaning close to the phone to be able to speak into the handset. "Hey Abs, you got a sec?"

"Hey, Kate. And I kinda don't at the moment, one of the other techs is out sick and I've got like a hundred tests to run. Why, is something the matter?" Abby asked, keeping the phone tucked between her shoulder and her cheek down in the lab – where she was lounging back in her chair, it hardly looked like she was busy with forensic tests.

"Ugh, my computer won't start up," Kate moaned, rolling her eyes. "But don't worry about it, I'll just wait for McGee to finish… whatever it is that's happening to his computer."

"What, is it wacked computer day, or something?" Abby asked, chuckling, before she hung up the phone and started laughing for real. She wished she could be up there to be able to see their faces properly, but instead she was stuck just looking at the security cameras, which didn't really have the best quality.

Back in the bullpen, the sound of beeping was still permeating the air, though McGee had stated hopefully that he thought he was nearing the end of all those damn pop-ups.

Kate was trying not to glare at Tony as she waited impatiently for McGee to finish with his computer so he could fix hers. She knew he had to have something to do with this, it was too much of a coincidence that the computers decided to act up on his first day back. This was exactly why she found it so hard to believe that he had such impressive hidden skills. More often then not, he acted as though he were still in college, and interrupted their work by playing pranks on them for no particular reason. It was difficult to correspond this Tony to the one she had read about the other night.

Letting out her frustration, she hit the computer screen lightly, not wanting to break it, but she frowned when she heard a slight rustling noise as she made contact. Narrowing her eyes, she touched her screen suspiciously, groaning when, instead of cool, hard glass, she felt the rough surface of paper instead. She leant closer to get a better look and realized that somebody really had sticky-taped several pieces of black paper to her computer screen. She groaned, closing her eyes for several moments when she noticed just how well it had been sticky-taped. It was going to take her a long time to be able to undo that.

McGee, on the other hand, crowed with delight. After getting rid of what felt like at least three hundred pop-ups, that had finally stopped. But before he could even move his cursor back to the file that held his report, another box appeared, saying, 'You know what? Maybe another hundred would be fun.' McGee just stared at the screen in horror.

-------------

Gibbs held back a chuckled as he watched his two junior agents preparing to come to him with their printed out reports and several of the filled in forms he needed with them. After the initial pranks, it had actually been surprisingly quiet. He had expected more from DiNozzo and Abby. Sure, the junior agents computers randomly started to blare out 'It's a small world' several times throughout the day, but that really was tame considering what Tony and Abby could do.

Heck, he could remember when they really hadn't liked one of their current transfers. However, the director had been insistent on the needing a third at the very least, so his then newly promoted senior field agent and forensic scientist had decided to take things into their own hands. The newbie had requested a transfer within two days. And, as an added bonus, after that incident, Morrow let Gibbs hand pick his team by himself.

The two agents walked over to his desk from the printer, and handed their boss the sheets they had just printed, both not bothering to even look at the print out, too annoyed at the constant interruptions that had occurred while writing them. Not only were there Tony's usual interruptions, but their computers would freeze up at the most random times, though thankfully they never lost any of their work – they'd just had to live through 'It's a small world' about a dozen times.

Gibbs raised his eyebrows after just looking at the sheet. He sat up properly, reading through the reports thoroughly, having to hold back the urge to laugh out loud at moments. The agents had become too complacent, and apparently hadn't even checked what was coming up on the computer while they were typing.

"You two may want to take a trip down to the basement," Gibbs informed them sharply, looking displeased as he threw the two reports down on his desk.

"Cyber Crimes?" McGee asked, confused.

"Why?" Kate asked, almost dreading the answer. She was beginning to wonder whether McGee had a point about Tony being able to get back at them with ease. Though she wished she knew why it had reached such a level all of a sudden. After all, he couldn't know what had happened while he'd been gone. Not even Gibbs knew.

"Why don't you tell me, Sexy Barbie," Gibbs answered her, completely deadpan as he nudged the report closer to her.

McGee stared at them in surprise as Kate made a squawking noise with her throat, refusing to meet her superiors eyes. She grabbed the report and saw, to her horror, that instead of 'Special Agent Caitlin Todd' the header and footer both read, 'Special Agent Sexy Barbie'. She tried to explain, but could only stutter, "I… that… explain… I…"

She gave up, looking at the report and noticing other differences after McGee coughed lightly to get her attention. She stared at the paper and realized that somehow her t, h and e buttons had been replaced with s, e and x.

"And, McGee, you may want to retake some spelling courses," Gibbs added, grabbing the report again and throwing it at his youngest agent.

McGee groaned and blushed lightly, fearing what might have happened to his report after having seen Kates. He was slightly relieved to note that his had no innuendo, though a lot of it seemed to be complete gibberish. He groaned as he realized that after he worked out what was wrong with the computer he was going to have to retype the entire report and they still hadn't finished out filling out all the forms. He looked morosely at the large pile of papers sitting on Kates desk, as he returned to his own, grabbing his jacket, deciding to go down to the Cyber unit as Gibbs had suggested, because he honestly had no idea how such a thing could have happened. He hesitated a moment, checking the cables between the keyboard and the computer, but sighed when he realized they were all fine.

Kate had watched him check impatiently, and then just sighed, rolling her eyes and trying not to glare at Tony. This was definitely his fault. She was finding herself falling for his façade all over again, but she was struggling not too, now that she knew that it actually was a façade, a mask he used to hide from the rest of the world. She had to admit (grudgingly) that he was a very good actor.

"Come on, McGee, we may as well just go down the basement, they'll probably know something," Kate said, rolling her eyes at the thought and glaring at the pile of papers lying innocently on her desk. One day, she was going to find the bureaucratic moron that invented paperwork and shoot him.

"Yeah, coming," McGee said, coming around to join her. They turned around and started to head to the elevator.

"Hey, Kate, Probie," Tony called out, stopping them before they reached the elevator. The two junior agents turned around, glaring at him, both knowing that he probably knew exactly what had happened with their computers. He flashed them one of his megawatt smiles, and toning it down and saying in a slightly more serious voice, "while you're down there, can you ask them about the laptop that belonged to our team and was found in the stairwell yesterday?"

Kate and McGee both registered surprise clearly on their face, McGee quickly starting to feel horrified that Tony had found out. The occurrences of the day suddenly took on a whole new meaning. Tony kept eye contact with them until the elevator opened and the other two agents stepped in, glancing at each other, but not saying anything, neither having any idea what they could say after that.

When the elevator doors closed, Gibbs turned to Tony and asked, "Special Agent Sexy Barbie?"

"It seemed like a good idea," Tony replied shrugging and flashing his boss with a grin.

Gibbs shook his head with a fond chuckle. "You wanna head out? You finished the report and technically this is your last day of leave."

"Sure, just let me finish this stuff quickly first," Tony agreed easily. "Oh, and I should probably call Abby and tell her about everything."

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Kate and McGee stepped into the bullpen close to two hours later, not surprised that it was empty. After stopping by the CCU, an agent had taken one look at the reports and told them that someone had switched the key around on their keyboards, they then decided to grab some coffee, since it looked like it was going to turn into another late night. On their way back in, they had seen Ducky who had informed them that Tony and Gibbs had both already left.

"I – " Kate started but then stopped. McGee was staring at the pile of paperwork on her desk in shock. "What? Did somebody bring more of the stuff?"

Looking down, she opened her mouth in surprise, looking like a goldfish in the process. The paperwork had all been completed in the familiar neat handwriting of their senior field agent.

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_Well, that seems a good a place as any to end it. It's done… all of you, please, let me know what you thought, I would love to hear any and all of your thoughts on the story! And it is my birthday… ;) Hopefully I'll have some more NCIS stuff out soon! _


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